Dare to Believe, Dare to Challenge: Latina Girls Code

"I just I didn't see myself in that world yet until I was actually making things. It's surreal." said 17 year old Andrea Herrera, who immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico with her parents. Herrera is just one of the many girls learning to code thanks to Latina Girls Code. Latina Girls Code is an organization working to eliminate the diversity gap for girls, specifically Latinas, interested in entering the tech world.

Latina Girls Code wants to spur girls’ interest in the technology through education and resources. Latina Girls Code provides mentors, access to hardware and digital tools as well as internships through various programs and events throughout the year.

In an interview with New York Times, Latina Girls Code Chief Strategy Officer Kenneth Watkins said, “Hispanic girls excelled in technology programs, but there weren’t enough organizations catering to their specific needs, like bilingual skills.” Therefore, in 2014 he and Stephanie Castillo started Latina Girls Code.

Kenneth Watkins is a mobile/web developer, speaker and instructor from Chicago. Stephanie Castillo is from Plainfield but she graduated from the University of St. Francis, in Joliet, with a Bachelor’s degree in political science & social justice.

Latina Girls Code offers training in 3-D printing and creating wearable tech. So far, the program has trained 83 Latinas, to which most of them are third-generation, in HTML, CSS, Javascript and other computer programming languages.

Latina Girls Code provides tangible education to those particularly in disadvantaged areas. However, working with these disadvantaged communities comes with unforeseen challenges. In his interview with New York Times, Watkins said, “We now have to do an Aurora thing and a Joliet thing — we have to do two different events, because they just can’t travel but so far,”

Watkins is speaking about how some Chicago workshop locations are discouraged because the students and their families are afraid of being targeted by immigration officials or the police while traveling to the city.

"So, you have all these things confronting you, you have all these obstacles, and sometimes that's why you can experience importer syndrome — feeling unworthy to do these things." said co-founder Stephanie Castillo to MSNBC.

Latina Girls Code provides computers, mentors and classes for Hispanic girls in Joliet. The organization sets up internship opportunities, hack-a-thons and multi-week programs to show young women different paths they may take in a technology career. You can find more information about Latina Girls Code at latinagirlscode.org.