Lawmakers are striving to make Syracuse more technology-centric and local companies are chipping in.

Hack Upstate is hosting a 24-week coding bootcamp geared toward women and minorities to help end poverty in the city. 

Everything came into fruition Thursday night at the Tech Garden in downtown Syracuse. 

The camp provides financial support and laptops for the program. 

"I'm just really excited. I can't believe I'm here. I'm going to pass out," said student Dana McMuller. "Se we applied for some grants a few weeks ago and then everything came into fruition here." 

Students like Dana will embark on the coder's journey with a company-provided laptop that they'll get to keep it, if they graduate the program, and the opportunity for work that they didn't have before. 

"We're going to dig back into the Central New York community, Syracuse community, women and minorities and we're going to pull them into these and not only provide them the education and the financial support — and give them laptops — how often do you hear of boot camps like this? And I'm a part of the first class."