Behind the Scenes of C4K with Johnny (12) From Friendship Court

C4K provides enriching programming in our community for kids like Johnny, a teenager at Friendship Court. We asked Liz Hoeppner, grants and communication manager at C4K, to share information with us about the program.

In the heart of IX Park, every day after school, youth and their mentors make digital apps, music, videos, robots, rockets, video games, websites, 3D models and forever friends. C4K (Computers4Kids) youth member and Friendship Court resident, Johnny, aged 12, has been documenting a ‘behind the scenes’ view of C4K life.

“I love to meet with my mentor, Juan. He cares about me. We just finished building a scavenger-hunt video game together using Roblox. I am also developing my photography portfolio.” – Johnny.

“C4K is a place for my boy to flourish. I love it. C4K is a place where being a nerd, is totally cool.” – Shay, Johnny’s mom & Friendship Court resident.

“Charlottesville Schools depend on strong evidence-based programs like C4K to supplement what we do every day in the classroom. It is a joy and privilege for me to be a supporter and mentor with C4K.” – Juandiego R. Wade, Johnny’s mentor & Charlottesville School Board Member.

C4K (Computers4Kids) is an out-of-school mentoring nonprofit. We want our youth members to have choice in their lives, as choice represents freedom. We provide the knowledge, experiences, and skills – through mentorship and high-quality, STEAM-based programming – for middle and high school youth from low-income families to have choice. All projects are youth-driven, fun, project-based and directly applicable to real-world opportunities. Since opening in 2001, 97% of our youth have graduated from high school (local rate: 85%), and 92% went on to college.

All our programming is FREE. We offer:

●       One-to-one mentoring.
●       Drop-in group mentoring.
●       Camps, workshops, job shadowing, field trips.
●       Youth leadership on our Youth Council.
●       Access to industry-level software, Video & Audio Production Suites, Engineering & Robotics Lab, Clubhouse Makerspace and Mentor Studio.
●       Self-paced, self-guided projects.
●       A free laptop.

C4K is actively recruiting new youth members and volunteer mentors!

– Visit us: 945 Second St, SE, Charlottesville, VA 22902.
– Explore our space: here.
– Become a volunteer mentor: https://bit.ly/c4kmentor
– Become a youth member: https://bit.ly/c4kmember
– Support our work: https://bit.ly/supportC4k

All photos in this post were taken by Johnny.