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Working at VentureKids Canada
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About
Small is a technology journalist, and VentureKids came out of watching who Canada's tech sector was and was not reaching. The workshops cover coding fundamentals, financial literacy, product building and entrepreneurship, and are run with community partners including the Toronto Public Library and Toronto Community Housing, which puts them where the students already are. The organisation's design point is the barriers rather than the curriculum: the classes cost nothing, the laptops are provided, the internet is provided and the food is handled, so attending does not depend on a family's budget. It has since added initiatives such as #YoungTechLeaders microgrants with partner organisations.
Backers
A non-profit rather than a funded company. Named delivery partners include the Toronto Public Library and Toronto Community Housing; no funders are named in the sources read.
Quick answers
What is VentureKids Canada?
A non-profit that runs free coding, product-building and entrepreneurship workshops for young people in low-income and underserved communities in urban and rural Ontario, providing the laptops, internet and food alongside the teaching.
Who founded it and when?
Takara Small, a Toronto technology journalist, in 2017.
Who does it work with?
Community partners including the Toronto Public Library, Canada's largest library system, and Toronto Community Housing, Canada's largest community housing provider, so the programs run where students already are.
Who from VentureKids Canada is in this directory?
Takara Small, its founder, who spoke at TechTO in September 2021 about the future of work in tech — hiring, trust and self-promotion.