Harlem Rep. Espaillat Announces Launch of 2021 Congressional App Challenge

Today, Representative Adriano Espaillat in Harlem announced the launch of the 2021 Congressional App Challenge (CAC).

The 2021 Congressional App Challenge (CAC) is an initiative created by the U.S. House of Representatives to encourage middle school and high school students to learn to code and pursue careers in computer science.

Congressional App Challenge

“Empowering students in STEM is vital to the success of our nation, and we must be targeted in our approach of how we attract and support minority students – particularly African American and Latino students – who are interested in science, technology, engineering and math fields and ensure they too have the opportunity to succeed and enter the workforce in these innovative industries,” said Rep. Espaillat. “The Congressional App Challenge is a fun and exciting way for students to explore coding and develop their own original app and I am delighted to offer this service to middle and high school students from my district to showcase their talent to our community and the nation.”

“Silicon Harlem is proud to participate again in the 2021 Congressional App Challenge,” said Silicon Harlem CEO Clayton Banks. “The future gets that much brighter when we unleash the innovation of our young students.”

STEM skills, particularly those surrounding coding and computer science, are essential for America’s continued economic growth and technological innovation, and the CAC aims to encourage students to learn the necessary skills required for app development while improving their long-term employment prospects, filling the expanding gap between the domestic tech labor force and employer demand, and increasing the pipeline of minority talent in these innovative industries.

To be eligible to participate in the Congressional App Challenge, you must be a middle or high school student at the time of app submission.

Students may register as individuals or as teams of up to four. No more than four students are allowed to form a team. Students may compete in the district they reside in or the district they attend school in.

Please click here for full rules and guidelines and here to register to compete in this year’s competition. The deadline to submit entries for New York’s 13th congressional district is November 2, 2021.

Representative Espaillat is the first Dominican American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and his congressional district includes Harlem, East Harlem, West Harlem, Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, Inwood, Marble Hill and the northwest Bronx.

First elected to Congress in 2016, Representative Espaillat is serving his third term in Congress. Representative Espaillat currently serves as a member of the influential U.S. House Committee on Appropriations responsible for funding the federal government’s vital activities.

He is also a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), where he serves as the Second Vice Chair and is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, where he serves as Deputy Whip.

Representative Espaillat also currently serves as a Senior Whip of the Democratic Caucus. To find out more about Rep. Espaillat, visit online at https://espaillat.house.gov/.