White House summer jobs program offers technology training

Young people from low-income families have a chance to get summer jobs -- and training in technology -- through a White House program that encourages businesses, non-profits and government organization to provide job opportunities or training for the youth.

Federal CTO Aneesh Chopra announced the program in a Jan. 17 blog entry. Codecademy, Level Playing Field Institute and the College Bound Brotherhood have committed to the program, called the Summer Job + initiative. 

Codecademy pledged to teach basic computer programming and app building through a "Code Summer +" program. Level Playing Field will operate over the summer the residential Summer Math and Science Honors Academy at various California universities with a  focus on teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) curriculum to low-income and minority students. The College Bound Brotherhood will launch a summer internship program to place young black men into Bay Area tech companies.

"As we continue to adequately prepare our young people to compete in the 21st century economy, it is imperative that we focus on providing them with a strong STEM education as well as help introduce them to some of the high-tech competitive skills necessary in much of the industry today," Chopra wrote.