About
Our story.
The Bolton Foundation exists because one on-ramp changed everything for our founder — and there aren't nearly enough on-ramps for kids growing up on Chicago's South Side.
The gap we saw
Bright, curious kids on the South Side of Chicago rarely encounter the same entry points into software that their peers in other neighborhoods take for granted — no summer camps down the block, no visiting engineers in the classroom, no easy way to see themselves as "someone who could build this."
That gap isn't about talent. It's about access. And access is something you can build.
Why an iOS Engineer started a nonprofit
The Bolton Foundation was founded by Romell Bolton, an iOS Engineer at Morgan Stanley (Power E*TRADE) and the solo developer behind Buckets, an independent NBA data app on the App Store since 2019.
Romell grew up on the South Side. He didn't have a coding camp down the street either. What he did have — long before the CSG internship in 2018 that showed him what a software career could actually look like — was a poster hanging on his elementary school wall. President Obama, staring back at him with a simple message: "Don't just play on your phone, program it."
That poster is where our flagship program Program-It gets its name. The Bolton Foundation is Romell's way of putting that same message on the wall of the next kid — not as a slogan, but as a real workshop, a real project, and a room where a kid can leave with something they built.
What we do
Our flagship program is Program-It — free, hands-on coding workshops for South Side youth. The first session runs July 14, 2026 in Hazel Crest, IL, in partnership with Hip-Hop DetoxX, the youth organization led by Romell's cousin Enoch Muhammad. Kids build a working Flappy Bird game in Scratch in one afternoon.
Over time we plan to expand Program-It into a recurring workshop series, a mentor network, and — when we're ready — a scholarship for South Side students pursuing a career in tech.
Where we're headed
We're small, brand-new, and focused. The goal for the rest of 2026 is simple: run the July 14 workshop well, learn from it, and use what we learn to run the next one better. If the mission resonates and you want to help — get in touch.