Minneapolis-based Silicon North Stars, a nonprofit founded by Mary and Steve Grove, is raising money from the Minnesota tech scene to put students through a summer tech boot camp.
Silicon North Stars provides free tech education for a cohort of 20 underprivileged rising ninth-grade students from Minneapolis and St. Paul. This year, the organization is reaching out to local founders and entrepreneurs to help fund the program through its Founders Circle effort, which has so far raised over $16,000 out of a goal of $25,000.
Mary is a partner at venture capital firm Bread and Butter Ventures, while Steve is the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. They are both former executives with Google, where they met and founded Silicon North Stars in 2013.
The effort was spearheaded by Silicon North Stars board member Damola Ogundipe, who is also the CEO of tech startup Civic Eagle. Civic Eagle put in $500, while Ogundipe himself put in an additional $250.
The Founder's Circle has so far received a strong showing from local tech companies and startups. Participating companies include 75F, Upsie, Lunar Startups, Player's Health and SureSwift Capital.
"For our students to know that they’ve got the backing of our tech ecosystem, it’s just really powerful," Mary Grove said. Bread and Butter Ventures contributed a donation from its other two partners, Brett Brohl and Stephanie Rich.
Silicon North Stars provides students with a tech education, as well as hands-on creative exercises and lessons in creating and giving pitches. While early iterations of the program flew participating students out to Silicon Valey, in 2019 the program pivoted to hosting students at local companies like Best Buy.
Silicon North Stars also offers a $10,000 college scholarship to students who have gone through the program. Its class of 2021 will kick off in July.
That class won't be touring local companies because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Grove said. Instead, speakers and trainings will be held at St. Paul's Osborn370 building.
You can see all the participating companies and make a donation to Silicon North Stars here.
