Volunteering Teaching (Prisons Code4000)

[harrygfox]

From gitter @harrygfox said on 13th Feb:

I’ve been in touch with Michael Taylor at code4000 which is an initiative to help recidivism and employment prospects of cons in the uk. They are going to do this by teaching coding in prisons (via Skype). The UK criminal justice system is something I am personally passionate about in so far as making my time available to help those individuals sucked in to a broken system of punishment. I believe the only rightful purpose of a prison is to protect the general public from someone dangerous or to rehabilitate a criminal - this is not the justification in most cases of imprisonment, but the state justifies the ruination of innumerable lives all the same.

Is anyone interested in volunteering? Doing more? What's the appetite for involvement here?

https://www.code4000.org/en

[rjmk]

I've put my email in! Beyond mentoring, what sort of involvement opportunities are you envisaging?

[Conorc1000]

@harrygfox I'd be keen to get involved in this 👍

[Jbarget]

@hdrdavies mentioned this over the weekend and Michael Taylor got back to me today

Dear Justen,

it would be great to have you onboard! Please start by joining our Slack channel - https://code4000.slack.com/shared_invite/MTM4NjI5NDMxNzE3LTE0ODY1NDQxMzEtODRmNzdlY2FmMw

We currently need some hands on help to finish downloading the curriculum. Each week takes about 1-2 hours to download to a shared google drive (prisoners do not have access to the internet, and so we need to download all of the resources we have identified). If you could help us download a week's resources, please let me know on Slack!

Thanks os much for reaching out - we really appreciate it!

Kind regards, Michael

it might be worth having one point of contact and finding out how many DWYL/FAC people are interested

[harrygfox]

@rjmk I'll find out today on a call and feedback here with all the options for getting involved

[naazy]

Also interested @harrygfox

[hdrdavies]

Already joined 😉

[harrygfox]

@rjmk @Conorc1000 @Jbarget @naazy @hdrdavies

Updates following a call with Michael Taylor this afternoon:

---

The Programme

Is in its pilot phase. 16 students from HMP Humber work in person with a Course Facilitator to learn the fundamentals of web development over a number of weeks. The curriculum is (currently) a copy of the curriculum used by US programme, The Last Mile. The Last Mile (with whom Code 4000 have connections) have found that every student that has completed the course, completed work experience, and found full time employment has not returned to prison. Last Mile have no short-term intentions of entering UK prisons.

That means that this programme has the chance of reducing recidivism from 59% within a year to 0%.

The Commitment

Broad range of jobs Generally speaking the jobs that volunteers are asked to perform are in support of the Course Facilitator. Below is a list of things from least to most real-time involvement.

• Procuring resources for the students
• Being active and helpful on Q&A forums
• Code reviews
• Designing exercises for a class
• Directly presenting over Skype to a class
• Mentoring an individual more closely
• In person delivery of classes

However much you want it to be Very flexible. There is no minimum commitment from anyone and there is also the option for a trial period of volunteering before actually committing to something more regular.

Stick to your commitment If you choose to commit in any way, make sure you are definitely going to meet it. The students are particularly vulnerable individuals who, in many cases, have been abandoned by the education system, and often their families and friends too. As tutors and mentors we should not be part of the problem.

The Curriculum

(As mentioned above) is a version of The Last Mile's curriculum since they have found success with it. Code 4000 is open to conversations about changing the curriculum as well as including relevant things like UX/UI design, or Blockchain, or whatever you're passionate about.

Meeting Code 4000

Michael Taylor will be visiting HQ on

Thursday 16th Feb at 3pm

@iteles @nelsonic particularly with a mind to meet the visionaries / flag-bearers.

[nelsonic]

@harrygfox this thursday? (please send us a Calendar invite so we don't forget! thanks!)

[nelsonic]

@harrygfox please see: https://github.com/dwyl/dwyl-site/issues/203 😞

[ghost]

@harrygfox when is this guy coming back to London?