Empowering Women in Tech via Lambeth’s Changing Lives funding

On 31 January, Millennium Community Solutions (MCS) launch a 40-week free computer programmer training program exclusively for women.

Diversifying IT

Helping women and girls in Lambeth develop their coding skills adds vibrancy to the community and diversity to the world of IT. This training programme reflects former Professor of Computers and Information at Cambridge University’s Karen Sparck Jones’ comment that “computing is too important to be left to men alone”. Women and girls have historically been steered away from science and technology (STEM) education –limiting their career choices later. Only 15% of UK programmers are female.

Flip the script

The Rev. Gail Thompson of MCS says “The coding world is a bit of a boys’ club but we’re here to flip the script. We believe that the digital future should be for everyone – and that starts with giving women the tools (and keyboards) they need to succeed. This program isn’t just about building skills; it’s about building confidence, networks, and a future where the phrase “brogrammer culture” is so last season. Our current pool of specialist tutors are all black female coders, role models to inspire the students. Together, we can code a better, brighter, and more inclusive future.”

Word from the Cabinet

Cllr David Amos, Lambeth’s Cabinet Member for Finance, said: “The Changing Lives programme is designed to help residents’ big ideas get off the ground, with funding for employment, training and volunteering opportunities. We are delighted to support this projevt that is working to overcome gender inequalities in the world of IT.”

Learning and teaching

MCS make learning fun by teaching programming languages like Scratch and Python, which are accessible and widely used in fields such as data science, machine learning, and game development.

With funding from Lambeth’s Changing Lives Fund, MCS also plans to “grow our own talent” by creating five paid coding positions and two paid internships for unemployed women and girls in Lambeth – not just teaching coding; we’re creating careers. The paid teachers will be graduates of the Industry-recognized Advanced AQA accredited course.

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