Miami Gardens’ educational development department has a new mission: teach kids to code

Miami Herald | By Raisa Hambersham | January 14, 2025

The Betty T. Ferguson Center in Miami Gardens was bustling with residents attending evening gym classes or walking around the center’s track.

But down a hallway is a computer lab where about half a dozen children were working on an educational gaming system on a Monday night. One of them, Evan Page, sat in front of his laptop building out a character and then breezed through the levels of the game, learning the programming language Python along the way.

He’s had a growing interest in coding after taking a technology class at his school. “I’m just into coding. I’m also into science as well,” he told the Herald, adding that he hadn’t anticipated that Python would be fairly easy to learn.

Page, 10, is participating in the first edition of NexGen Coders Program, a week-long after school program created by the City of Miami Gardens and spearheaded by their new director of education, Sherman Gant. This is the first youth program run by the city’s office of educational development. Miami Gardens created this department in January 2024 to organize educational activities, events and partnerships that focus on “lifelong learning” for Miami Gardens residents.

Evan Page, 10, participates in the Next Gen Coders workshop at the Betty T. Ferguson Center in Miami Gardens.

Gant said his office aims to provide city-sponsored programs that reinforce academic concepts and offer residents a different environment for them to learn those concepts while engaging with the community. “I know everyone goes to separate schools, they have their own kind of life, but bringing everything together and having programs like this, it really is just going to foster opportunity for growth within the city. This is just the beginning.”

Miami Gardens started its initiative to bring education-centered training, classes and events to residents in 2023. The city began partnering with Miami Dade College, Florida Memorial University, and St. Thomas University to offer classes at the Betty T. Ferguson Center. Residents can also attend classes to earn certifications in electrical, plumbing and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC). Training to become a certified nursing assistant is also offered. They plan to add theater classes in the future as well.

Soon after that partnership began, the city hired Gant to coordinate educational initiatives for residents. Gant hopes the coding classes will increase younger students’ interests and job prospects in tech.

“Exposure to coding is crucial for students because it provides them with access to in-demand skills and opportunities in a rapidly growing field,” Gant told the Miami Herald. “Students are going to have hands-on experience, knowledge and technology. Students will be able to bridge the digital divide. They will be able to enhance their career prospects and kind of break the cycle of poverty.”

Gant credited the parks and recreation programs he attended as a youth in Chicago, which offered tech programs and paid students to participate, as inspiration for his interest in bringing a similar program to Miami Gardens.

A student takes notes during a coding workshop sponsored by Miami Gardens’ Department of Educational Development.

“I was one of those kids that were heavily involved in all those things,” he said. “So I learned so many different skills growing up. And it didn’t cost my parents anything. So that’s what I’m trying to recreate here, the right opportunities for students to participate, gain exposure, pathways and technologies and programming that they normally won’t see or normally come with the price tag where they can’t afford it.”

The classes are free to students. Gant said the city paid the vendor, Riley Technology Solutions, $7,500 for 75 students to be able to use the Code Combat platform, which the students will have access to for a week after their class ends.

The class is taught by John Riley, founder and CEO of Riley Technology Solutions. Riley said the classes will help cultivate an interest in technology and programming for Black youth at a time when automation and artificial intelligence usage is increasing.

“We’re in a time now where everything is moving into an automated space,” he said. “So our youth need to be in the know of what is happening, not just as consumers but as creators.”

John Riley Jr., instructs Kemoni Rozier, 11, during a Next Gen Coders workshop sponsored by Miami Gardens’ Department of Educational Development at the Betty T. Ferguson Center.

Black people comprise 8% of tech employees, according to a 2023 report from the McKinsey Institute for Black Economic Mobility. That number decreases to 3% when you focus on the C-suite, according to a McKinsey analysis. The report also indicates that while technology jobs are expected to grow by 14% by 2032, Black talent in those roles is expected to grow 8 percent in the same time period.

Riley said the program meets students where they are and grows their skills set. “Our kids are extremely creative. They’re extremely entrepreneurial,” he said. “They just need direction and guidance, and I think that that’s a really good place for us to start.”

Ronald Page, Evan Page’s dad, knew the program was a good fit because of his son’s interest in STEM.

“He was interested in engineering and astrophysics and things of that nature. But specifically as it relates to coding, I thought that it was something that he’d be very much interested in,” said Ronald Page, 33, a doctoral student at Florida International University. “I don’t know too much about it, so I can’t even educate him to expose him to it.”

The city is hosting three weeks of the youth coding classes. The next courses will be held Feb. 10-14 and again from April 28-May 2.

In the long term, Riley and Gant want the classes to be offered as part of a summer program and eventually year round.

“I’m just really hoping for the light bulb to go off in some young folks’ minds and they say, ‘Although I like playing Madden or various games, I can be the person behind the creation of some of these games,’” Gant said. “So it really is just sparking an interest in allowing them to see themselves as a creator, or someone that can troubleshoot the system, versus the user.”