Focus Area: Youth Development

Grant Amount: $10,000

Located in Minneapolis. createMpls brings quality, hands-on STEM programming to underserved inner-city Minneapolis students, helping these students gain experience in coding, robotics, and app development and preparing them to become successful leaders in Minnesota’s technology-driven workforce. It works in a variety of charter and private schools and connects with afterschool programs in churches and community programs.

Grant supports createMpls’s current coding and robotics out-of-school-time program at charter school locations and community-based programs such as at Plymouth Christian Youth Center, Banyan, and others. Feedback from local tech schools and companies has led createMpls to add a 3D printing course and an M.S. machine learning class. This year it will add a hydroponics program to teach students how tech can be used for farming practices with the goal of providing year-round fresh produce for families.