Girls Who Code, a national nonprofit working to close the gender gap in tech, wants to work with you! Through their afterschool Clubs Program, 6th-12th grade girls use computer science to impact their community and join a sisterhood of supportive peers and role models. Clubs can be hosted by many kinds of youth-serving organizations, including schools, community centers, faith-based organizations, universities, libraries, and other nonprofits.
All materials from Girls Who Code are provided for free, including:
To start a club, you need:
For more information, check out these other resources:
Bring computer science to girls in your afterschool program with a Girls Who Code Club: Start a club today!
By Archika Dogra. Archika, 16, is a high school junior at the Interlake High School in Bellevue, Washington who co-founded the EduSTEM Initiative, along with Evelyn Chen and Maya Srikanth, two juniors at Newport High School. Archika is also president of her school’s Technology Student...
BY: Guest Blogger 11/12/18
By Kyra-Lee Harry, 4-H Collegiate Leader/National 4-H Youth Action Citizenship Pillar Winner. Growing up, I was always that student who volunteered to present, answer questions, or do something that involved interacting with my peers and using my voice. Even at a young age, I knew that I had a...
BY: Guest Blogger 09/24/18
By Jessica Woltjen, policy & outreach manager at the Georgia Statewide Afterschool Network. When the clock strikes 3 p.m., thousands of Georgia’s youth head off to explore their interests, develop new skills, and build upon school day learning at afterschool and youth development...
BY: Guest Blogger 09/18/18
By Susan Le, Senior Marketing Manager at Peachjar, who strives to help after school programs elevate their marketing strategy so they can reach families more effectively and continue to make a meaningful impact in the lives of children. In addition to developing your program curriculum,...
BY: Guest Blogger 09/17/18
Sixteen leaders in the field of afterschool and expanded learning nationwide have been selected as White-Riley-Peterson (WRP) Policy Fellows as part of a partnership between the Riley Institute at Furman University and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Through deep discussion of...
BY: Jen Rinehart 09/11/18
To be able to guess what the students in the Barclay After School Program are doing for the three hours after the last bell rings, you’d have to keep up with a diverse and ever-rotating schedule of activities, from STEM contests to photography lessons, from arts programming to...
BY: Faith Savaiano 07/20/18
The weather is teetering between 90 and 100 degrees, and the sidewalks of D.C.’s iconic Shaw neighborhood are almost completely vacant. It is the heart of summer—when quality summer programs are especially important to keep children engaged. The D.C. affiliate of the national non-profit...
BY: Dayna Hood 07/16/18
By Major General (Ret.) Peter Gravett, U.S. Army. This post was originally published by the Council for a Strong America. Read the original post here. We know the afterschool hours are a peak time for kids to commit crimes or become victims of crimes. While the typical school day routine is...
BY: Guest Blogger 07/05/18
By Charlotte Steinecke, communications manager at the Afterschool Alliance, and Sam Harp, site director at SOAR, the Camp War Eagle Afterschool Program. Every afternoon, the Jones Center in Northwestern Arkansas fills with children and young people shooting hoops in the gym, playing clapping...
BY: Charlotte Steinecke 06/08/18
One of the many joys associated with the Afterschool for All Challenge last week was seeing so many of our Afterschool Ambassadors in person. For nearly 20 years, the Afterschool Ambassador program has been the pride and joy of the Afterschool Alliance and it has had an out-sized impact on our...
BY: Jodi Grant 04/23/18
By Heidi Ham, Vice President, Programs and Strategy at National AfterSchool Association. Studies show that healthy, active children learn better, perform better academically and experience fewer behavioral problems. Afterschool and summer learning programs are well-positioned to be key partners...
BY: Guest Blogger 09/14/18
We’re excited to unveil the latest additions in our refreshed resources for field: our brand new Health & Wellness Initiatives and Social Emotional Learning pages. These pages are currently outfitted with tools, research, and information for program providers and researchers to...
BY: Faith Savaiano 08/17/18
By Margaux Mennesson, marketing and communications manager at Safe Routes to School National Partnership. A new report out from the Safe Routes to School National Partnership and the Y, Making Strides: 2018 State Report Cards on Support for Walking, Bicycling, and Active Kids and Communities,...
BY: Guest Blogger 07/17/18
Far too many children lose access to nutritious school meals when the school year ends, according to Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation: Summer Nutrition Status Report, released June 13 by the Food Research & Action Center. The report finds that only 3 million children received a...
BY: Erik Peterson 06/22/18
By Daniel W. Hatcher, MPH, director of community partnerships, Alliance for a Healthier Generation. Active kids learn better, but did you know that girls today are far less likely than boys to achieve the recommended amounts of physical activity? Healthier Generation’s #GirlsAre campaign...
BY: Guest Blogger 05/31/18
By Sheila Savannah, director of mental health and wellbeing at Prevention Institute. Originally featured in a May 3 email, this blog was reposted with permission from the Prevention Institute. May is Mental Health Month—an opportunity to take a fresh look at...
BY: Guest Blogger 05/15/18
When Sheree Vodicka first heard of legislation passed in California to establish healthy out-of-school time (OST) programs, she realized there may be an opportunity to replicate that in North Carolina. As a recipient of the YMCA of the USA’s Pioneering Healthier Communities grant...
BY: Faith Savaiano 04/06/18
By Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPH, Director, Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio. Did you know that 1 in 4 kids drink no water in a day? Latino kids drink less water than their white peers. They also are more likely to perceive tap water as unsafe, and drink more sugary drinks, our research...
BY: Guest Blogger 03/30/18
By Crystal FitzSimmons, director of school and out-of-school time programs at Food Research & Action Center. Hooray! It’s National Nutrition Month. Time to celebrate the important role that afterschool programs are and can play in supporting good nutrition among the children they...
BY: Guest Blogger 03/23/18
We have a looming national security emergency, and it may not be the one that first comes to mind. 71 percent of Americans between 17 and 24 years of age— or 24 million of the 34 million young people in our country—are ineligible to serve in the United States military. The...
BY: Arielle Kahn 03/16/18
By Tyler Mattingly, Marketing Communications Coordinator at the National Summer Learning Association. National Summer Learning Day, July 12, is a national advocacy day aimed at elevating the importance of keeping kids learning, safe, and healthy every summer, ensuring they return to school in...
BY: Guest Blogger 06/29/18
By Sheila Savannah, director of mental health and wellbeing at Prevention Institute. Originally featured in a May 3 email, this blog was reposted with permission from the Prevention Institute. May is Mental Health Month—an opportunity to take a fresh look at...
BY: Guest Blogger 05/15/18
By Kaleb Robertson. Kaleb is a senior at Green Bay West High School and was recently named a Youth Afterschool Ambassador for 2016-17 by the Afterschool Alliance. He has been attending the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Green Bay afterschool program for more than five years. This letter...
BY: Guest Blogger 01/11/18
By Kevin Hamilton, vice president for communications at the Student Conservation Association. Welcome to the first post in our new blog series about the vital role that out-of-school time programs play in the social, emotional, and character development that youth need to navigate a complex,...
BY: Guest Blogger 12/19/17
By Daniel W. Hatcher, MPH, director of Community Partnerships at Alliance for a Healthier Generation.This article was original published on December 5, 2017 on the Healthy Out-of-School Time New & Notable blog. Partnerships between school and afterschool educators are essential to...
BY: Guest Blogger 12/14/17
By Sarah McKinney, Content Marketing Producer at Encore.org’s Gen2Gen campaign. Diana Amatucci volunteers after school and during the summers at her local Boys and Girls Club in Charlottesville Virginia. A retired teacher, Amatucci knows that kids need more champions...
BY: Guest Blogger 10/24/17
By Rachel Willis, research project manager at the Kansas Enrichment Network. After celebrating early successes, the Spartan Explorers afterschool program will continue through the 2017-2018 school year. Begun in January 2017, the program is a partnership between Emporia High School and the...
BY: Guest Blogger 08/01/17
By Diego Uriburu, co-founder and executive director of Identity. By age 16, Elam had been out of school for two years. Although he’d dropped out of school the first time, he knew he needed to turn his life around and that the best way to do that was to complete his education. Going...
BY: Guest Blogger 07/19/17
By Rachel Gwaltney, Director of Policy and Partnerships at the National Summer Learning Association. Rachel leads development and implementation of services, projects and partnerships that strengthen summer learning policy and build capacity of state and national leaders and...
BY: Guest Blogger 07/12/17
By Aaron Short, assistant head of staff at 21st Cranston Community Learning Center Bain +2/Kidventure Afterschool Program. Aaron attended the Youth Session of the 2017 Afterschool for All Challenge and spoke to his members of Congress about the impact of afterschool on his...
BY: Guest Blogger 07/11/17
Identity in Montgomery County, Maryland, is no stranger to afterschool and summer learning. The organization acts as a safe and enriching community for Latino children and their families to receive all the tools they need to be successful in school and in life. This summer, Identity programs are...
BY: Dayna Hood 08/21/18
In a new SolutionSERIES brief, “New Federal Opportunities to Advance Two-Generation Approaches to Improving the Lives of Children and Parents,” Ascend at the Aspen Institute explores new funding and policy developments that can strengthen two-generation (2Gen) system...
BY: Nikki Yamashiro 07/23/18
This is a two-part blog series outlining Kansas’ commitment to establishing partnerships between law enforcement and afterschool programs. The previous post focused on the afterschool network and this post delves into specific programs. Rachel Willis, who I interviewed for...
BY: Arielle Kahn 06/19/18
By Sheila Savannah, director of mental health and wellbeing at Prevention Institute. Originally featured in a May 3 email, this blog was reposted with permission from the Prevention Institute. May is Mental Health Month—an opportunity to take a fresh look at...
BY: Guest Blogger 05/15/18
By Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPH, Director, Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio. Did you know that 1 in 4 kids drink no water in a day? Latino kids drink less water than their white peers. They also are more likely to perceive tap water as unsafe, and drink more sugary drinks, our research...
BY: Guest Blogger 03/30/18
We have a looming national security emergency, and it may not be the one that first comes to mind. 71 percent of Americans between 17 and 24 years of age— or 24 million of the 34 million young people in our country—are ineligible to serve in the United States military. The...
BY: Arielle Kahn 03/16/18
By Nila Cobb. This is the second part of a two-part question-and-answer session with Nila Cobb, healthy lifestyles specialist and assistant director of the West Virginia Statewide Afterschool Network. You can read part one here. In the second part, Nila describes the challenges and...
BY: Guest Blogger 03/12/18
Disney’s “Black Panther” not only gave boys and girls a few new heroes to look up to: it also gave them inspiration to learn more about science, technology, engineering and math. Now, Disney is helping those kids in real life by donating $1 million of the “Black...
BY: Shaun Gray 03/07/18
By Nila Cobb. Welcome to the first of a two-part question-and-answer session with Nila Cobb, healthy lifestyles specialist and assistant director of the West Virginia Statewide Afterschool Network. In the first part, Nila describes the earliest signs of the opioid crisis impacting her community...
BY: Guest Blogger 02/27/18
Last week I attended a Title I Conference in Philadelphia. The “Title I” name may be as generic as they come, but it is one of the most important Titles in education policy. The purpose of Title I, which was recently reauthorized in 2015 in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), is...
BY: Jillian Luchner 02/15/18
By Susan Le, Senior Marketing Manager at Peachjar, who strives to help after school programs elevate their marketing strategy so they can reach families more effectively and continue to make a meaningful impact in the lives of children. In addition to developing your program curriculum,...
BY: Guest Blogger 09/17/18
By Katie Lisowski, manager of Digital Education Partnerships at Discovery Communications. Afterschool programs provide such unique opportunities to reach and inspire students. There’s freedom for students to try new things and explore the unknown without the pressures often felt...
BY: Guest Blogger 07/26/18
In a new SolutionSERIES brief, “New Federal Opportunities to Advance Two-Generation Approaches to Improving the Lives of Children and Parents,” Ascend at the Aspen Institute explores new funding and policy developments that can strengthen two-generation (2Gen) system...
BY: Nikki Yamashiro 07/23/18
This is a two-part blog series outlining Kansas’ commitment to establishing partnerships between law enforcement and afterschool programs. The previous post focused on the afterschool network and this post delves into specific programs. Rachel Willis, who I interviewed for...
BY: Arielle Kahn 06/19/18
This week we are celebrating Children’s Week, a seven-day call to action coordinated by First Focus, the Children’s Budget Coalition, and others, to bring attention to key issues faced by children in America. The week-long campaign seeks to educate the public, engage policymakers,...
BY: Erik Peterson 06/13/18
The National League of Cities recently released a series of briefs (two of which we described in a previous blog post) including “Afterschool and Summer Learning: A City Strategy for Public Safety,” which highlights afterschool programs as a cost-effective prevention and youth...
BY: Arielle Kahn 06/01/18
The first week of April is National Library Week, with today being National Library Workers Day. Take the opportunity today to visit your local library or send a message thanking the staff and administrators for all the work they do in your community! Across the country,...
BY: Charlotte Steinecke 04/03/18
Today we’re excited to take part in celebrating Absolutely Incredible Kid Day® (AIKD)! AIKD is a national holiday that lifts up the kids and teens in our lives, and it was founded by Camp Fire in 1997. While we’ve enjoyed spotlighting the great work done at Camp Fire programs...
BY: Faith Savaiano 03/15/18
By Heidi Ham, vice president of programs and strategy at National AfterSchool Association. For the more than 4 million English language learner (ELL) students who attend public schools nationwide, it’s more critical than ever to literacy skill development support both in and out...
BY: Guest Blogger 02/05/18
By Sarah McKinney, Content Marketing Producer at Encore.org’s Gen2Gen campaign. Diana Amatucci volunteers after school and during the summers at her local Boys and Girls Club in Charlottesville Virginia. A retired teacher, Amatucci knows that kids need more champions...
BY: Guest Blogger 10/24/17
By Archika Dogra. Archika, 16, is a high school junior at the Interlake High School in Bellevue, Washington who co-founded the EduSTEM Initiative, along with Evelyn Chen and Maya Srikanth, two juniors at Newport High School. Archika is also president of her school’s Technology Student...
BY: Guest Blogger 11/12/18
By Hayley Cordaro, communications specialist at the Boy Scouts of America This is the last post in our blog series about the vital role that out-of-school time programs play in the social, emotional, and character development that youth need to navigate a complex, interconnected world. This...
BY: Guest Blogger 08/14/18
This spring the Creative Youth Development National Partnership, together with more than 650 cross-sector stakeholders nationally, called for all young people to have equitable access to opportunities to realize their creative potential, live richer, fuller lives, and develop the critical learning...
BY: Erik Peterson 06/15/18
Two new briefs from the National League of Cities' (NLC) Insitute for Youth, Education, and Families highlight the ways in which afterschool and summer learning programs help develop students’ college and career readiness and in turn support the economic success of cities. For students,...
BY: Leah Silverberg 05/29/18
By Nila Cobb. Welcome to the first of a two-part question-and-answer session with Nila Cobb, healthy lifestyles specialist and assistant director of the West Virginia Statewide Afterschool Network. In the first part, Nila describes the earliest signs of the opioid crisis impacting her community...
BY: Guest Blogger 02/27/18
Through our Afterschool Ambassadors program, every year we recruit a cohort of program providers and advocates of special distinction and provide them with training, technical support, and modest funding to complete projects that raise the profile of afterschool in their communities. This year,...
BY: Charlotte Steinecke 11/10/17
By Sarah McKinney, Content Marketing Producer at Encore.org’s Gen2Gen campaign. Diana Amatucci volunteers after school and during the summers at her local Boys and Girls Club in Charlottesville Virginia. A retired teacher, Amatucci knows that kids need more champions...
BY: Guest Blogger 10/24/17
For many middle and high school students, community service is a requirement for graduation—one that afterschool programs often assist with, giving students a chance to give back through volunteering, community beautification efforts, and tutoring younger students. As a result, afterschool...
BY: Charlotte Steinecke 10/13/17
By Diego Uriburu, co-founder and executive director of Identity. By age 16, Elam had been out of school for two years. Although he’d dropped out of school the first time, he knew he needed to turn his life around and that the best way to do that was to complete his education. Going...
BY: Guest Blogger 07/19/17
By Aaron Short, assistant head of staff at 21st Cranston Community Learning Center Bain +2/Kidventure Afterschool Program. Aaron attended the Youth Session of the 2017 Afterschool for All Challenge and spoke to his members of Congress about the impact of afterschool on his...
BY: Guest Blogger 07/11/17
September is Hunger Action Month, making this month an opportunity for people all over America to spread the word and take action on the hunger crisis, and dedicate ourselves to a solution. According to the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), 41 million Americans live in households that...
BY: Erik Peterson 09/25/18
By Heidi Ham, Vice President, Programs and Strategy at National AfterSchool Association. Studies show that healthy, active children learn better, perform better academically and experience fewer behavioral problems. Afterschool and summer learning programs are well-positioned to be key partners...
BY: Guest Blogger 09/14/18
Far too many children lose access to nutritious school meals when the school year ends, according to Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation: Summer Nutrition Status Report, released June 13 by the Food Research & Action Center. The report finds that only 3 million children received a...
BY: Erik Peterson 06/22/18
When Sheree Vodicka first heard of legislation passed in California to establish healthy out-of-school time (OST) programs, she realized there may be an opportunity to replicate that in North Carolina. As a recipient of the YMCA of the USA’s Pioneering Healthier Communities grant...
BY: Faith Savaiano 04/06/18
By Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPH, Director, Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio. Did you know that 1 in 4 kids drink no water in a day? Latino kids drink less water than their white peers. They also are more likely to perceive tap water as unsafe, and drink more sugary drinks, our research...
BY: Guest Blogger 03/30/18
By Crystal FitzSimmons, director of school and out-of-school time programs at Food Research & Action Center. Hooray! It’s National Nutrition Month. Time to celebrate the important role that afterschool programs are and can play in supporting good nutrition among the children they...
BY: Guest Blogger 03/23/18
By Sukhjit Dhaliwal, Expanded Learning Opportunities VISTA for School's Out Washington. Childhood hunger is an unfortunate reality that reaches many parts of the United States. Many of our nation’s children and youth who rely on free and reduced-price school breakfast and lunches...
BY: Guest Blogger 03/13/18
In recent years, many states across the country have started to seek government support to enact policies aimed at increasing healthy practices in out-of-school time environments. While many of these efforts are just beginning, few advocates have seen as much immediate success as the Alliance...
BY: Faith Savaiano 01/29/18
At the beginning of each year, most of us set personal goals that we would like to accomplish. Although the list of New Year’s resolutions vary from person to person, eating better and exercising more are two of the most popular resolutions we make. As we start the year, let’s not only...
BY: Tiereny Lloyd 01/08/18
By Daniel W. Hatcher, MPH, director of Community Partnerships at Alliance for a Healthier Generation.This article was original published on December 5, 2017 on the Healthy Out-of-School Time New & Notable blog. Partnerships between school and afterschool educators are essential to...
BY: Guest Blogger 12/14/17