Apps for Good

Picture of Madelyn Postman

Madelyn Postman

Last month we wrote about supporting Plant Your Future through our membership in 1% for the Planet. Today we’re excited to announce that we’ve helped bring another nonprofit on board with 1% for the Planet: Apps for Good.

Who is Apps for Good?

Apps for Good supports and empowers educators to teach students everything they need to create a brighter future for themselves and for their community. The independent charity was founded in 2010 and since then, they’ve collaborated with teachers to unlock the potential of over 200,000 students around the UK and beyond with free technology courses. Aimed at 11-18-year-olds, the tried and tested standard and extended courses can be delivered in the classroom or remotely.

They particularly target schools in challenging circumstances and half of the students they reach are girls, who are underrepresented in tech.

How does the technology offering work?

The aim is to prepare young people for the real world. The free online courses are aimed at teachers (sitting alongside the curriculum, and complete with lesson plans) and their students. Students find a problem they want to solve and apply new skills to make a real-life technology product. They explore the full product development cycle from concept to coding, to launch in a way that brings the classroom to life.

Examples of the work that students produce are apps for social isolation and mental health. Student teams design and build an app that solves a problem that concerns them, be that social, educational, community-driven, or whatever they feel enthusiastic about!

New Climate Action and Wellbeing course

Recently, to complement the existing offering, Apps for Good has been developing a Climate Action and Wellbeing course, which will be rolled out over the coming year. The course will help prepare young people for the net zero economy, introducing them to climate change and sustainability.

The first module of the course will teach about climate change and why it’s an issue. It will tackle how climate change is being addressed in a systemic way. The second section is app development and a machine learning based solution. The third will focus on green jobs and the key skills students need for jobs in the circular economy.

The course will initially pilot in five schools and will launch to their network of over 900 schools by 2022.

How we’re supporting Apps for Good

Beyond helping Apps for Good become a 1% for the Planet nonprofit partner, which allows any 1% for the Planet individual or business member to now support Apps for Good, we’ve made a monetary donation to the nonprofit. Apps for Good also invited us to sit on their Expert Feedback Panel, so we’re currently giving input on the Climate Action and Wellbeing course. By coincidence one of the pilots is at a secondary school local to us, and we’ve put Apps for Good in touch with two other local schools.

“We’re really excited about the launch of our new climate focused programme and joining the 1% for the Planet community is a great way to mark this. Thank you to Grain who have supported us through the process and their climate expertise will be very valuable in reviewing our course content.”

— Georgie Cella, Fundraising & Partnerships Manager, Apps for Good

We’re delighted to be involved with Apps for Good and championing the new Climate Action and Wellbeing course. If you would like to find out how you can support Apps for Good’s new climate programme, you can contact them at partnerships@appsforgood.org.

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