As a former data scientist, Brianne Caplan has witnessed firsthand the harms of a tech sector that lacks diversity, and she has made it her mission to ensure that everyone can belong and thrive in tech. In 2018, she founded Code Your Dreams, a global nonprofit that provides community-centered computer science education to students from underserved communities, starting as early as kindergarten. A graduate of the University of Chicago, Bri has been featured in media outlets such as Forbes and the Chicago Tribune and honored by Crain’s for her leadership in STEM. She is the author of the children’s book Techie Tales with Bitwise Bri.
Bri founded Code Your Dreams to reduce barriers to entry that might prevent underrepresented kids from accessing computer science. The organization brings programming to schools, community centers, afterschool programs, and correctional facilities, and they’re intentional about designing for kids who are traditionally left out of CS. An annual Hack for Accessibility with Deaf Kids Code event brings in ASL interpreters, captioning, and accessibility devices. For incarcerated learners, the organization creates offline curriculum and unplugged activity packets to enable ongoing CS learning even when the students lack access to an internet connection or a computer lab. Code Your Dreams takes care to provide free programming to ensure that CS learning remains accessible to every student.
“No single program alone can meet the diverse needs and interests of students,” says Bri. As part of her mission to improve equitable access, Bri builds bridges to connect all learners to computer science in ways that are relevant to their lives. For instance, Code Your Dreams collaborates with the Youth Sports Science Institute to host sports and coding camps that use students’ love for sports and athletics as a gateway into computer science. A robotics and dance program allows students to code robots to perform with local dance teams, and Bri notes that it wouldn’t be possible without robust community collaboration.
In many ways, community forms the centerpiece of Bri’s work, because she recognizes that it’s the key to engaging students and making CS relevant to their lives. The App Development program invites students to use MIT App Inventor to solve community problems. One student worked on a language-learning app to support newly arrived refugees, while another built a food pantry locator to help address food insecurity in the area. At the NASA Space Apps Hackathon, students get to grow their confidence and their CS community, and teams from several of the schools Bri works with have placed or won audience favorite awards.
At Code Your Dreams, Bri has built programs that reach thousands of students annually, but she knows there’s always more to learn about scaling sustainable educational systems. As an IMPACT Fellow, she hopes to learn more about how to support educators in under-resourced schools, whose students often have the least access to CS learning. She would like to grow in her understanding of data storytelling, which is so vital to measuring outcomes and securing the resources needed to sustain her programs in the long term.
In Bri’s experience, many teachers without CS experience are excited to find ways to connect coding and tech to their subject areas. She’d love to use her time as an IMPACT Fellow to design projects to equip such teachers with strategies and curriculum that make CS feel approachable—even for educators without prior experience. Initiatives like cross-curricular hackathons and a modular professional learning series for teachers new to CS could, in Bri’s words, “spark teacher confidence and student excitement, while creating scalable pathways.”
Most of all, Bri’s excited to learn from her cohort. “The opportunity to connect with peers who are tackling similar challenges nationwide is invaluable,” she says. “Through this fellowship, I can become a stronger advocate, mentor, and community builder in service of all students.”