By: Danae Mobley
10 years ago, our founder Sylvester Mobley saw tech as an opportunity for substantive change. After building a career in tech while serving in the military, he recognized early on that the sector was a pathway for many to build viable careers and make life-changing strides, but only if they could get in the room. His way of opening the door was building Coded by Kids, an organization founded on the premise of equipping underrepresented youth with the tech skills necessary to transform their lives, guiding them from their first line of code all the way to their first startup.
What started as an afterschool program at a South Philly rec center has since turned into a community that’s sustained and supported us for a decade. We’ve watched curious elementary and middle schoolers learn, grow and now lead as adults. From securing positions at top companies to founding their own, we can proudly attest to helping nurture their potential from the beginning.
There have been so many cherished moments along the way. From starting our first school programs to launching our first competitions to seeing our first students build companies. We are beyond proud of the accomplishments of the 2000+ students that we have served over the years. And as they’ve grown - so have we. Our evolution has been a direct result of our commitment to walking with our students every step of their path to tech, even after they’ve matriculated from our program.
With that, we wanted to honor that journey by reintroducing ourselves with a new name. We are now Coded by:.
While the name is changing, the mission remains the same as we strive to reach more underrepresented young people. Over the last decade, our organization has re-invested over $900,000 in local students through paid employment opportunities and competitive programming. Now, we want to double down on that support and expand our mission to work with more students to help find their place in tech and innovation.
We’ve also expanded our impact as we support adults through our citywide initiative, 1Philadelphia. Since 2021, we have built a strong cross-sector coalition committed to ensuring that all Philadelphians thrive in tech. We are doing our part to ensure the success of the local community at the large and small scale by hosting meetups and spearheading robust regional events like Innovation Weekend and Philly Tech Week.
This rebranding will take place the rest of this year through measured steps, and make no mistake – despite our new look, we are still the same organization that's been steadfast in doing the work to change the trajectory of underrepresented people through tech.
Our new tagline, innovation encoded, embodies exactly what we are doing—innovating. What that looks like is strengthening our bonds with our committed partners, forging paths with key stakeholders and keeping our students at the center of all we do, which won’t be easy. But then again, when has it ever been?
We’re grateful to have withstood the challenges we faced. And as I look around, I see how much more work that needs to be done. So, at 10, I'm feeling hopeful and fortunate to be surrounded by people that help us continue this work.
We welcome you to join us along the way—the door is wide open.
In Partnership,
Danae Mobley
Chief Executive Officer, Coded by:
