The new norm has been established. The political landscape of America is filled with discourse, blatant corruption, pushes for a civil war, and a lack of humanity. Every time we look at our phones, it is easy to wonder where kindness has gone. We all are struggling, whether mentally or financially. In times like these, the community can flourish rather than be lost. We can spread meaningful love by focusing on those around us, strangers and kin. As I look back on this year with Empowr, there were so many moments of impact.

Empowr is proud to say that we were awarded $100,000 for the next three years from our first grantor, The Hopper-Dean Foundation. They were the first to take a chance on Empowr, and it's incredible to have their continued support.

Empowr is thrilled to announce the release of its latest innovation, Coppin, a groundbreaking programming assignment creator, and grader designed for seamless integration with the Open edX platform. Coppin empowers educators to create and grade programming assignments effortlessly, supporting over 100 programming languages. Since students can write and execute the programming code in the browser with Coppin, they will no longer need expensive hardware to learn computer science.

Please welcome Jasmine Coleman, our new Curriculum Designer & Instructor.

Empowr is proud to say that we were awarded grants of $100,000 from both Sony and Slack (Salesforce). We will use these funds to create a gaming pathway and scale our efforts.

It's been a while, hasn't it? If you know me, you know that when I am silent, I am working my hardest. Empowr has lots of updates coming out within the next month. Here's a small taste.

Empowr has been steadily moving forward in our mission. Check out some of our company updates below.

As the year comes to a close, we talk about how far we have come and what we plan to do next.

Students are suffering the worst from the pandemic. Black students, in particular, are less likely to have access to the internet, a teacher, or a device to learn on. As time continues, the education gap between black students and their counterparts continues to widen. This disparity grows in a system where black students are already left behind. 43% of black students didn't have access to the classes to become college-ready before the pandemic hit. Even as schools begin to open, black students are essentially playing catch up in a race where they were given lead shoes.

Today, we live in an era where traditional career paths are being re-evaluated, and skill set is now the new name of the game.