Twenty-one organizations are receiving a collective $12.4 million from the second stream of the federal government’s CanCode program. This is in addition to the six organizations that received funding from the program earlier this summer.
More than two million training opportunities will be provided through CanCode by March 2021.
CanCode is a two-year, $110 million federal program, created to support opportunities for kindergarten to grade 12 students to learn digital skills. The organizations will offer students the opportunity to learn digital skills like coding, data analytics, and digital content development including artificial intelligence.
“Young Canadians are the leaders of tomorrow and will drive our economic success for years to come,” said Navdeep Bains, minister of innovation, science, and economic development. “By investing in resources that teach them digital skills and making higher education more affordable, our government is helping them transition successfully from classrooms to research labs, shop floors or boardrooms.”
Some of the organizations receiving funding include the Pinnguaq Association, a non-profit based in the Nunavut hamlet of Pangnirtung, that also recently won the $10 million in the government’s Smart Cities Challenge. Another includes Black Boys Code, which aims to empower and prepare young men of colour to succeed in the innovation economy.
The 2019 federal budget invested an addition $60 million into the CanCode program, bringing the program’s total monetary commitment to $110 million. Under the first phase of CanCode, the program helped provide 1.9 million experiences in coding and digital skills training to Canadian students and 96,000 teachers.
Through this second phase, the government said more than two million additional training opportunities will be provided by March 2021. In 2019, 27 projects from across Canada, including the 21 recently announced projects, have received funding from the CanCode program. The government had previously announced CanCode funding for Actua, which received $12 million, Canada Learning Code, which received $9.4 million, MindFuel, which received $2 million, and First Robotics, which received $1.4 million.
The other organizations receiving funding include:
| ASTC Science World Society (Science World B.C.) | $695,062 |
|---|---|
| Black Boys Code | $513,924 |
| Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada | $1,504,075 |
| Brilliant Labs | $1,500,000 |
| CADRE21 | $500,000 |
| Elephant Thoughts | $1,000,000 |
| Fusion Jeunesse | $1,500,000 |
| Grandir Sans Frontières | $750,000 |
| Hackergal | $1,000,000 |
| Information and Communications Technology Council | $1,500,000 |
| Institute for Ocean Research Enterprise | $470,000 |
| MediaSmarts | $338,793 |
| Saskatchewan Science Centre | $500,000 |
| Saskatoon Industry-Education Council | $1,136,897 |
| Science East (Science East Science Centre) | $310,000 |
| Science North | $2,000,000 |
| TakingITGlobal | $2,600,000 |
| The Learning Partnership | $1,077,516 |
| The Pinnguaq Association | $1,755,720 |
| Ulnooweg Development Group Inc. | $750,000 |
Image courtesy Black Boys Code via Instagram