Creating Coders In The Caribbean
Johnson Ignites Passion In Youth For Coding
Ja’dan Johnson from Kingston, Jamaica started a non-profit called Next Gen Creators that teaches 10,000 youths how to code.
“Next Gen Creators was inspired by my own journey being a teenage entrepreneur in Jamaica,” said Johnson, sophomore.
Johnson came to Lynn for the Watson Institute and was nominated to be in the first cohort of Watson scholars. Johnson is pursuing his bachelor’s in social entrepreneurship while working on Next Gen Creators and his other projects.
Johnson and his two business partners Stephan and Nicholas created Next Gen Creators in 2015. The organization was created to provide opportunities to youth in the Caribbean to collaborate, innovate and learn.
“I was frequently frustrated that youth in Jamaica were not being given the opportunity to explore their unique talents and learn 21st century skills,” said Johnson.
Next Gen Creators is one of the leading coding organizations in the Jamaican region.
Next Gen Creators has been featured in countless newspapers and TV segments and won many awards. Next Gen Creators received attention from “Loop Your News Now Jamaica” and Jamaica’s number one daytime talk show “Daytime LIVE!”. National Commercial Bank Jamaica has partnered with them for their program Coders of the Caribbean.
This year, Next Gen Creators focus on bringing their flagship programs such as Hackathon and Coders of the Caribbean to more Caribbean regions. Currently, the organization is working specifically on training software to satisfy the global talent shortage. Johnson is also in the process of designing a CS for all curricula with hopes of bringing computer science to every classroom in the region.
“We played an essential role in ushering in a new generation of talent,” said Johnson.
To learn more about Next Gen Creators go to nextgencreators.com/code, follow @nextgencreators on Instagram or email Johnson at jadan@nextgencreators.com.
