Digital Harbor Foundation takes WebSlam coding event to Philadelphia

Baltimore city high school students spent a day in late September building websites for local nonprofits during a 12-hour WebSlam, organized by the nonprofit Digital Harbor Foundation (DHF).
Now the Baltimore STEM education-focused nonprofit is taking its WebSlam model to Philadelphia this weekend and students there do the same thing.
The local branch of the national YouthBuild organization in the City of Brotherly Love is hosting its own website-building event at coworking space Indy Hall starting Nov. 22 and ending the evening of Nov. 23. Students between the ages of 16 and 24, including attendees of YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School, will be coding websites for local nonprofits.
For the last week, students have been using DHF’s online programming curriculum to prepare for the YouthBuild Philly WebSlam.
“The national organization had been looking to work with us over the past year and as we progressed down this path, they were deciding between Boston, Los Angeles and Philly as the first site to try some things out,” said Andrew Coy, executive director of the Digital Harbor Foundation. “Philly was one, on their side, that was more ready for it and also — because of proximity — staff from their school had already been able to come see in-person things we had done here at DHF over the summer.”
Coy said DHF is now starting to expand its reach beyond Baltimore by sharing curriculum and instructors with events and schools in other cities.
“Our reach is extending out beyond Baltimore, but our focus and attention is here,” he said.