​Here’s a short timeline of an exciting two years, during which this home-grown idea caught fire nationwide and worldwide:

January 2016: President Obama announced a new initiative to empower American students with the computer science (CS) skills they need to thrive in a digital economy. (link to 2016 State of the Union speech)

March 2016: White House Office of Science and Technology Policy recognized MVGATE’s work as the key to jump-starting CS education in thousands of America’s schools. OSTP published their interview with MVGATE Director John Pearce on the White House website.

April 2016: MVGATE was invited to the sixth White House Science Fair. MVGATE announced it will work with the White House in support of "Computer Science for All," by helping any elementary school in the country put on one of our most popular programs, Family “Hour of Code” Night.

September 2016: MVGATE returned to the White House as one of five featured programs at the national kickoff of "Computer Science for All"; CapitalOne announced that it would sponsor the rollout of the program. (link to our presentation on YouTube)

December 2016: the first Family Code Night kits go out for free to hundreds of schools

MVGATE's Family Code Night project is endorsed by allies that include Marin County Office of Education, Association of California School Administrators, Chicago Public Schools, and the International Society for Technology in Education.

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2017: By fall, 10,000 principals, parents, and educators in 48 states and 13 countries have received free kits to hold their own Family Code Night. Here’s a picture from Johannesburg, South Africa, ten thousand miles from where this all started in Marin! 

October 2017: MVGATE/FCN helps Virginia schools launch Family Code Nights statewide.  At CSforAll Summit in St. Louis, MVGATE is invited to speak on family engagement in CS education; nationally live-streamed video of John Pearce’s talk here.

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