Commitment, Passion, Respect and Cooperation; these are the four core values that Yapo.cl, the number one online classifieds site in Chile, strives for. Therefore, when frontend leader Marco Gallardo discovered the social entrepreneurs Laboratoria Foundation, he instantly knew they should get involved.
Laboratoria Foundation has developed a program to teach code to underprivileged women. The foundation is based in Chile, Mexico and Peru. In Chile, the program started up last year with nine women. Seven of them are now working! Due to its success, they received some state funds, which allowed them to increase the number of students up to 45. 250 women applied for a position. The ones who were accepted are highly committed and motivated to excel. The women are all in their twenties. Most of them have a complicated family background, so this is a big step towards a better future.
Yapo.cl agreed to support the foundation in any way possible. By now, Marco, as a Yapo.cl representative, has participated in sessions to motivate and give the girls an overview of what working as a frontend developer entails, as well as future prospects.
Additionally, as a reward, some of the best students were invited to work in Yapo.cl for a day alongside professional developers.
Yapo.cl has also accepted to be part of the jury at a Hackaton the program organizes for the girls to practice and review the different content units of the course. And this is just the beginning. There are many ways to get involved in the initiative and Yapo.cl is highly motivated to keep exploring all of them.
Laboratoria foundation develops their frontend programming course in a co-working space in Santiago.