Digital Harbor Foundation Release:
Digital Harbor Foundation Celebrates One-Year Milestone
with Anniversary Showcase
Tech Center serves as an Engine for Economic Growth in Baltimore
Baltimore, Md. (January 15, 2013) - The Digital Harbor Foundation (DHF), a Baltimore-based non-profit dedicated to fostering innovation, tech advancement, and entrepreneurship is excited to celebrate the one-year anniversary of its flagship Tech Center. To mark the occasion, the Digital Harbor Foundation will be hosting a commemorative anniversary showcase on January 16, 2014 from 6pm to 8pm. The free event is open to the public and will feature a youth showcase, a short program recognizing the many who have made it all possible, and a look forward to what the next year will bring for the Tech Center.
In 2012, Andrew Coy, Executive Director of the the Digital Harbor Foundation, advocated for an innovative solution for the closed-down South Baltimore Rec Center. Expanding on his experience as a teacher in Baltimore City public school’s and the success of his tech after-school program, he proposed a vision of the Rec Center becoming a Tech Center where youth could explore tech passions and develop employable skill sets for high-growth sector technology jobs. In January of 2013 that idea became a reality with the Grand Opening of the Tech Center.
“At the Digital Harbor Foundation we are focused on providing a holistic solution to the problem of systemic poverty and education inequality,” said Andrew Coy, “Numerous technology companies right here in Baltimore are constantly forced to go outside of the region to recruit top talent. Simultaneously, however, we have countless youth in this city who have a love of technology but have no idea how to turn that interest into a career. The Tech Center provides a bridge for inner city youth to the high growth, and high paying, jobs right here in the region — which, in turn, serves as an engine for economic growth to Baltimore’s expanding tech sector.”
In the past 12 months, the Digital Harbor Foundation Tech Center has served more than 350 individuals in out-of-school programs focused on maker activities and tech workforce development. The youth in programs at the Tech Center learn employable skills including web programming, app development, 3D printing, as well as “soft skills” such as digital communication, portfolio creation, presentation, and resiliency.