The Charleston Digital Corridor is expanding its workforce development strategy with the announcement today of a new program to teach software coding.

The program, CODEcamp, will teach open source coding, and classes will be held in a new computer lab funded through the corridor's member dues.

"These are the technologies that are driving companies like Google, Facebook and Pinterest," said Ernest Andrade, director of the Digital Corridor.

Andrade said the courses evolved from a new workforce development strategy, which marks an expansion of the Digital Corridor's mission to support tech startups in the Lowcountry.

"It's not just what we want from our companies," Andrade said. "It's what the companies need from us."

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley said the Digital Corridor has been responsive to the needs of tech companies in the Lowcountry. CODEcamp will expand the tech talent pool in Charleston, will create a community of coders and will keep Charleston "propelling forward" as a leader in the tech industry, Riley said.

Classes will be at the Digital Corridor's Flagship2 business incubator and will begin May 14. The courses offered are Introduction to Ruby on Rails, Django/Python, jQuery and iOS.

Classes cost $500 per class per student. More information can be found here.