As the saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas, including our footprint on tech training in the Dallas area. Since 2015, Per Scholas Dallas has prepared more than 1,200 individuals for a career in tech with our tuition-free tech training, with training tracks in IT Support, Cybersecurity, AWS re/Start, and Software Engineering. Our training equips learners not only with technical skills, but also the soft skills needed to secure a job and advance in the industry, through mock interviews, professional development, and resume writing training, as well as support and coaching from MSW-accredited Learner Support Managers and Financial Coaches.

Our expansion across the broader Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex has been made possible by our generous funding partner, The BlackRock Foundation, who has collaborated with Per Scholas Dallas to focus on extending beyond Dallas County. Dallas is one of the nation’s top tech hubs, but there’s a massive talent gap that’s leaving scores of tech jobs vacant. That’s where Per Scholas Dallas comes in – training hundreds of diverse technologists in the skills needed for today’s tech jobs and helping those skilled technologists launch high-growth careers in tech.

The BlackRock Foundation is contributing $5M over the next three years to help Per Scholas expand in six states, including Texas. A portion of the grant is dedicated to supporting our operations in Dallas, enabling Per Scholas to nearly double our impact in Dallas in 2022 compared to the prior year. The grant marks The BlackRock Foundation’s first major investment into job training in Texas.

The BlackRock Foundation’s support will enable Per Scholas to enroll nearly 800 additional learners into a variety of tech courses offered by our Dallas campus through 2023 and grow our footprint in North Texas by expanding remote training courses for individuals in neighboring counties. First up are Collin and Tarrant counties, where access to rigorous tech training is low, but local tech talent demand is high.

Such significant support from The BlackRock Foundation is enabling Per Scholas Dallas to continue preparing our learners for a successful career in technology. “Texas is a melting pot of diversity, multiculturalism, and more,” shared Ciara Owens, Sr. Manager of Recruitment and Admissions. “We’ve had much success connecting many learners across counties and thanks to committed funders like The BlackRock Foundation, we will continue to warmly welcome those from Tarrant County, Collin County, and other surrounding areas to be a part of a major movement in the industry of tech, and that movement starts here at Per Scholas Dallas.”

To learn more about Per Scholas Dallas’ upcoming training tracks, click here!

Per Scholas is honored to be among this year’s Red Nose Day grantee partners through a matching grant partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal! In its eighth year, Red Nose Day is a beloved fundraising event by Comic Relief US to help end the cycle of child poverty and ensure a healthy, empowered future for all children and youth. Per Scholas helps change trajectories by preparing our learners, many of whom are youth or have children, to launch life-changing careers in technology by participating in our rigorous, cost-free tech skills training. 

As we train our learners to start a career in tech through IT support, cybersecurity, software engineering, and more, we prepare individuals to have a well-rounded skill set that creates economic equity and financial stability for their families. 

Per Scholas Chicago Graduate Veronica Vergara applied to Per Scholas to create her own path of opportunity that was flexible so she could be available for her daughter, if needed. Veronica’s daughter suffered from serious health problems previously, so she quit work to focus on her daughter’s health. A year and a half later, Veronica’s daughter’s condition had greatly improved, and Veronica began preparing to rejoin the workforce. Her husband worked in IT and she admired many features of his job, including its flexibility and good pay, which is why she applied to Per Scholas to launch her IT career.

Another example of how Per Scholas’s cost-free tech training has enhanced our learners’ lives and the lives of their children is through Sadaf Haroon, a Per Scholas Dallas Software Engineering graduate. Sadaf, an immigrant mother of three, was at first intimidated to resume a career in the thriving field of tech. “Per Scholas made it easier for me to learn and now I am an earning member of my family. What can be greater than that?” 

In the two years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, more children have faced hunger, homelessness, and a growing learning gap, making those programs, funded by Red Nose Day, more crucial than ever. 

This Red Nose Day marks a return to the tradition of coming together in person to have fun, raise money, and change lives. The annual campaign’s signature Red Nose, the universal symbol for Red Nose Day, will be back and available exclusively at nearly 9,000 Walgreens and Duane Reade locations nationwide for just $1 each, with 100% of all proceeds benefiting Red Nose Day. Customers may also donate in stores via pin-pad at checkout, as well as online to receive a Digital Red Nose filter, and can show support donning a real Red Nose or virtual one!

Tune in on May 26th to NBC, which is supporting the Red Nose Day campaign across the network and through cross-portfolio programming features.

Another year of growth is on the horizon for Per Scholas!  November 29 marks the day applications open up for our upcoming training tracks with plenty of new additions and a larger reach for our cost-free training.  In 2022, expect to see expanded offerings of our most popular courses on more campuses.

In 2022, Per Scholas will offer our AWS re/Start, Cybersecurity, and Software Engineering curriculum in more locations than ever before as we enroll more technologists in our cost-free training and continue to diversify the tech industry.  In our Dallas market, the new year will bring in more learners as we expand to train learners in Collin and Tarrant counties.  Our Per Scholas Charlotte campus is extending out to become Per Scholas North Carolina with a partnership with Wilkes Community College.  We will train 1,000 New Yorkers through 2022 throughout the five boroughs since we launched our satellite model in Staten Island and Queens.  Additionally, you can expect to see a cohort launched in our National Capital Region (NCR) campus that is designed to support women learners.  This cohort will feature 15 spots for female technologists to pursue a career in technology and launch in February 2022. Our Per Scholas NCR Managing Director Diane Duff spoke with Michaela Althouse at Technical.ly DC to discuss the cohort and how Per Scholas will advance women in technology with this training.  “A thriving wage is critical to being able to participate in the workforce,” Duff said. “I mean, particularly for women, if you are not making enough money to support your household, what are we talking about?” 

Stay tuned to learn more about the launch dates and locations of all of our cohorts and our admissions process by visiting our website.  Reach out to [email protected] with any questions on our upcoming training as we train more learners than ever before in 2022!

September was a busy month for Per Scholas!  We were featured in various media outlets that showcased our President and CEO Plinio Ayala and the impact of a few of our seventeen locations.  Did you read the OpEd Plinio Ayala wrote for New York Daily News on the job market and how creating a more inclusive labor market for employers and employees is beneficial for the country or see that Per Scholas was named a top tech program preparing youth to build the future in Baltimore?  Per Scholas Newark also made waves in September in the headlines striving for job equity while one of our Dallas graduates was featured in Parade Magazine.

Plinio Ayala penned an opinion piece for New York Daily News on creating a more inclusive labor market for employers and employees. “By prioritizing funding for evidence-based programs, we can do a better job of ensuring that federal legislation is actually supporting economic mobility rather than just funding nonprofits,” he mentions.  In this essay, titled ‘The Missing Link in Biden’s Jobs Plan,’ Ayala reflects on how tech training programs such as Per Scholas are able to bridge the gap between the abundance of open jobs and individuals with the skills necessary to fill them. “As the president and CEO of Per Scholas, a nonprofit that provides tuition-free training for careers in the technology sector, I’ve seen firsthand the impact programs like these can have on transforming workers’ careers, advancing economic mobility, and positively impacting local economies.”

Per Scholas Newark was featured in New Jersey Business Magazine in an article focused on Newark’s commitment to equitable access to bridge the digital divide.  Per Scholas Newark’s Managing Director LaToya Ball noted, “Per Scholas Collaborates with industry-leading employers to build more diverse talent pools, directly connecting our graduates to new career opportunities in fields such as IT support, cybersecurity, AWS re/Start, and software engineering.”  Days before that publication, the Arman Roy Foundation hosted their 3rd Annual Run for Hope 5k in partnership with Per Scholas Newark.  The 5k was in-person and had a virtual run option as well and raised over $30k towards their mission of bridging the digital divide and creating equity and opportunity for disadvantaged young adults.  

Tara Jacobs, a Per Scholas Dallas 2020 graduate, was featured in Parade Magazine for their annual ‘What People Earn’ issue.  Tara was showcased on the cover of the publication and noted that because of Per Scholas, she has been able to launch her career in tech.  “I serve as the first line of contact within the Service Desk to resolve issues for our customers: troubleshooting, technical support, system set-up, and all things related to customer service. It’s a career I could have never envisioned for myself if not for the tuition-free tech training I received from Per Scholas,” she noted.

Additionally, Per Scholas was named a top tech program preparing youth to build the future in Baltimore by Technical.ly.  This is a great recognition noting the impact of Per Scholas in the Baltimore community that we are so proud to have read about.  We are excited to continue our efforts to connect individuals underrepresented in the tech industry with thriving tech careers. 

With so much great representation in the news in September, we are thrilled to see our impact as we head into the last quarter of the year.  Stay tuned to see how we close the book in 2021! 

According to CompTIA’s most recent Tech Jobs Report, Dallas-Fort Worth is among the top metropolitan areas in the nation for the largest number of technology positions. Per Scholas Dallas has long been training and placing diverse Dallas County talent in a variety of these roles, but demand for tech talent continues to grow, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of a recent, generous investment from the JPMorgan Chase & Co., our Per Scholas Dallas campus is now expanding recruitment and enrollment efforts to include learners from neighboring Collin and Tarrant Counties to increase tech training in Texas.

Sixty diverse learners from Collin and Tarrant Counties will have the opportunity to enroll into remote IT Support, Software Engineering, and Cybersecurity training cohorts to begin this November. The grant will also enable Per Scholas Dallas to grow staff capacity and strengthen relationships with employer partners, ensuring that upon graduation, learners have the opportunity to pursue high-growth careers in tech in the region.

“JPMorgan Chase believes it is imperative that our leading corporations work closely with nonprofits and government agencies to help learners of all ages realize their full potential in school — and in life,” said Michelle Thomas, Dallas-based Vice President of Global Philanthropy for JPMorgan Chase. 

To date, Per Scholas Dallas has enrolled 85 learners in a variety of tech courses this year, and, including support from this grant, is on track to train 170 learners in 2021. The majority of graduates have gone on to pursue careers in technology, with a handful of graduates hired into roles at JPMorgan Chase’s Dallas-Fort Worth Campus.

“We are incredibly grateful for the continued support from our friends at JPMorgan Chase. This latest investment will enable us to grow our offering to talented individuals who are excited about pursuing a career in technology, one of the highest-growth sectors in our region,” said Stephanie Valadez, Per Scholas Dallas Managing Director. “Since 2015, we’ve been humbled to train more than 1,000 incredible technologists, making a difference for individuals, their families, and their communities. I’m thrilled that we can now train even more learners from neighboring Collin and Tarrant counties as tech demand in our region continues to grow.”

To learn more about upcoming courses offered by Per Scholas Dallas or to hire Per Scholas graduates, please visit PerScholas.org/Dallas.