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Los Angeles, we’re back at it again with “Hustle and Code: Innovating Together”, a Hackathon that will serve more than 100 technologically under resourced children and youth (ages 8-17 years old) from Housing Development communities in El Pueblos Community Housing Development (Compton and 51st street).

As with our previous, inaugural “Hustle and Code” Hackathon  – hosted at the Jordan Downs Housing Community, where over 80 children and youth were served – we want to show, together with our volunteers and sponsors, that children from our community - including highly...

This month, we would like to recognize Marco Solis, an alumnus of TXT’s pilot program.

Marco grew up in South Los Angeles with a raging desire to be immersed in the study of computers and engineering, but without adequate access to those resources. He joined TXT and the rest - as they say - is history.With an endowment of inspiration and a healthy appetite for hard work, Marco recently completed his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree this spring from Stanford University. As shared with our TXT Summer Coding Leadership Academy during our trip to Stanford...

TXT was fortunate to be featured in Venture Capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz’ a16z podcast. Where the topic of technological access in the inner-city was thoroughly addressed. Please check out the discussion here!

http://exploringtech.org/code-and-culture-south-central-los-angeles-%E2%80%94-audio-essay

Los Angeles, CA – Teens Exploring Technology (TXT) believes that it is time for Watts and other South LA communities to become major players in the tech industry. While others may see a map of South Los Angeles-based startups and dismiss the region as a “tech desert”, TXT sees areas like Watts as potential hotbeds for tomorrow’s leading entrepreneurs. To spark this shift in the tech world, the not-for-profit organization is inviting youth from Watts and surrounding communities to its event, Hustle & Code: Watts Hackathon. Follow this...

On Sunday, March 29,  young black and latino men from South Los Angeles, Compton and Watts gathered at USC for TXT’s first annual Tech Startup Youth Conference!

Attendees were greeted with the opportunity to play with/experience TXT’s Oculus - a 3-dimensional virtual reality headset that represents the future of video game design, and good music being played in the main conference room.

Over forty young men in attendance participated  in workshops on design thinking, coding as personal empowerment, lean startup model, and enjoyed a Q&A session with Microsoft...

It was Luis Garcia’s turn to say his name — loud and clear before the class. But the 17-year-old stood frozen, delaying his team’s presentation. "We won’t judge you," a classmate shouted. "You can do it!" said another. After a summer of hard work, Garcia and 36 other students took turns recently practicing pitches that could earn them a chance to launch their own mini technology company. The stakes were set at South L.A. Demo Day, a contest at USC on Saturday with judges from big companies such as Google and Yahoo. The program is part of a South Los Angeles nonprofit called...

Saturday, October 25 was the Hackwarming Party - public open house - for the TXT Cube: South Los Angeles’ innovation space where students and community members can come and build, share, work and play. The day featured a schedule of great workshops, TXT Cube Demos, and celebrations for technology in the inner city.

Kicking off the day with a “Social Media for Nonprofits” workshop, social media expert Roman Jackson shared some best practices for authentically connecting a nonprofit organization’s core mission and focus with the target audience it seeks to...

As part of end of the summer activities, Teens eXploring Technology students and staff left Los Angeles early the Monday after Demo Day (August 4, 2014) en route for Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. After reaching San Jose Monday afternoon, TxT’ers and staff were happy to gorge on delicious pizza at the local pizzeria and engage in conversation with IBMers Rafael Coss and Nicolas Morales.

After lunch, the TxT cohort was treated with a tour of IBM’s Silicon Valley campus, which ended with a sure trip highlight: the in-depth...

History, Made! A Recap of South Los Angeles Demo Day 2014

On Saturday, August 2nd 2014, ten teams formed by South Los Angeles teens stood before a packed event hall filled with family and friends, tech enthusiasts and political leaders and shared with them the incredible products each team built over the course of 15 weeks. On this day, history would be and as the first teen tech startup from South Los Angeles would receive seed funding. The South LA teens had an impressive and varied array of products, but all ten teams shared a singular...

While at TEDx Embry Riddle I enjoyed seeing how people lit up when I told them about the amazing tech talent we have in South Los Angeles. I was happy to see that most agreed when i would say “We have talent in our backyards and we need to foster it in order to form technology leaders.” I was inspired by those who came up to me during my time at TEDx and said  ”Oscar, we need more young men of color in the technology. They will help us solve the big issues of tomorrow.” 

A main thing that stood out during my time at TEDx was that I was surrounded by great minds and many talented...

Chromebook is a laptop for everyone,according to Google.  In this blog, I will share some of my thoughts about the Google Chromebook, the capabilities of the Chromebooks and it’s Operating System, Chrome OS.  Along the way we’ll discuss how I have used Chromebooks and what I have used them for. To begin, I’ll break down the Chromebook’s pros and cons based on my experience with it.

Pros: Chromebook can be a very reliable netbook if you use most of Google’s apps.  Chromebooks are thin, affordable, and very good for work...

Last Sunday, I was at Start Up Weekend Santa Barbara and met several entrepreneurs who were impressed with the work of URBAN Teens Exploring Technology (URBAN TxT). I was congratulated by founders of other start ups for helping create the new generation of tech leaders.  One founder in particular said “So many people say they are teaching kids how to create their own products, but you guys have something to show for. Your kids are so impressive.” In my mind I was thinking, “how cool, they see that teens have a huge potential to change the world.” Another founder said “I am amazed by how...

Oscar gave a TEDx talk a few weeks about discussing how to change the world by building positive communities and inspiring young men of color to be tech leaders through coding. 

“South LA is ready to lead the efforts of changing the lives of young men of color while setting the tech world on fire,” said Oscar Menjivar, founder of URBAN TxT, while standing next to Councilmember Curren Price inside Los Angeles City Hall. “This City Resolution helps us keep working towards helping our young men of color become successful and not become victims to the streets. Our boys will no longer be part of the 55% who drop out of high school.”

Councilmember Price honored URBAN TxT, the organization’s leadership team, and supporters for the more than 60 teens that have gone...

At URBAN TxT we know we help our teens develop critical thinking skills because they have to experience project management at an early age - our teens are between the 7th and 11th grade. 

Each teen learns the value of breaking projects and tasks down to their subparts, and figuring out the deadlines for each. This type of work ethic is priceless in college and in the professional world, where you are expected to get your responsibilities done in a timely manner without someone continuously prodding you along and grading you on performance. 

Jesus, a second-year TxT’er and...