From iPhones to GPS, from biotech to the Internet, technology powers our lives today. But who will create the technology you use tomorrow? Computer science drives technology innovation and promotes problem-solving, creative, and technical skills - skills that our students will need to thrive, compete, and succeed. Yet many of our students never receive a computer science education. Consider:

• More than 1.6 million students took Advanced Placement (AP) exams in 2009, but barely 1% of the AP exams taken were in computer science.
• The portion of high schools offering rigorous computer science courses fell from 40% in 2005 to 27% in 2009.
• The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that nearly one million information technology jobs will be added to our workforce by 2016, but U.S. universities will produce only half the computing graduates needed to fill the new jobs.
• Women and minorities, currently underrepresented in computer science, represent a vast talent pool with the potential to alleviate this shortage and improve technical innovation.

Reform in computer science education doesn't just happen classroom-by-classroom; it starts on Capitol Hill, by educating our congressional representatives. We can provide them with the facts and information they need to ensure that computer science education is a priority in the 21st century, but we need your help.

Make a tax-deductible donation to NCWIT and your entire contribution will support advocacy for computer science education reform in our schools.

We are the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), a non-profit coalition of corporations, universities, and non-profits that believes the population that creates technology should be as broad and diverse as the population that consumes it.

NCWIT programs work to grow and diversify the technology workforce and the computer science education pipeline that feeds this workforce. Strong federal and corporate funding supports our programs, but we rely on individual contributions to support our advocacy for this issue in D.C. We're holding a congressional caucus on February 18, 2010, to educate policymakers about the state of computer science education in K-12 schools, and your contribution will make sure that our voice is heard.