Internet Association, a trade organization representing global internet companies on public policy matters, today announced in Detroit a private sector commitment of more than $300 million dedicated to computer science programs for kindergarten to 12th grade students.
The announcement was made at an event featuring advisor to the president Ivanka Trump, Quicken Loans Inc.founder and chairman Dan Gilbert, Salesforce.org CEO Rob Acker, Code.org CEO Hadi Partovi, and Internet Association president and CEO Michael Beekerman.
“Computer science and coding are a priority for this Administration as we think about pathways to jobs and we think about the alignment of the classroom for what are going to be really high paying jobs,” says Trump during the panel discussion.
“The Trump Administration is committed to aligning the skills being taught to our students with the jobs being created in the economy of the future. Given the growing role of technology across all sectors of American industry, it is vital that our students become fluent in coding and computer science and the decisive actions of the Administration and the private sector this week represent a giant leap forward in this direction.”
The announcement follows President Donald Trump’s announcement of a $200 million commitment to computer science education nationwide signed into a presidential memorandum yesterday.
The private sector contribution will be funded by Internet Association member companies and other businesses and individuals over five years. Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce each committed $50 million, which Lockheed Martin committed $25 million and Accenture, General Motors Co., and Pluralsight committed $10 million. Private individuals and foundations committed a total of $3 million to non-profits focused on computer science education. Detroit-based mortgage lender Quicken Loans also commits the financial resources required to ensure more than 15,000 Detroit Public Schools students receive computer science training.
Over the next five years, the investment is designed to expand the computer science education pipeline and close the skills gap for computing jobs in today’s economy. According to Code.org, there are currently more than 500,000 open computing jobs across a variety of industries including agriculture and banking, but only 50,000 computer science graduates nationwide annually.