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 info@perscholas.org with any questions on our upcoming training as we train more learners than ever before in 2022!

New York, N.Y. (October 21, 2021) – This afternoon, leaders from government, corporate America, and New York-based nonprofits came together to celebrate an expanded effort to train more New Yorkers for thriving careers in technology. Through an innovative Satellite Model leveraging on-site streaming technology, potential new learners will be able to participate in a variety of training courses in their home boroughs of Queens and Staten Island, led by nationally-recognized Per Scholas from their Bronx and Brooklyn Campuses. 

Per Scholas anticipates training more than 1,000 New Yorkers in 2022 by leveraging this approach, effectively removing geography and transportation as barriers to individuals interested in pursuing technology training and transitioning into tech careers. Training courses will continue to be offered at Per Scholas’s Bronx and Brooklyn Campuses.

“The explosive growth of the innovation sector in Brooklyn is one of the overlooked stories of the past decade – and it was thanks in part to strategic investments and public-private partnerships that prepared a pipeline of talent for emerging industries. Now, as we rebuild from a devastating pandemic, we must double down on these investments and ensure the benefits of our tech boom are distributed equitably. The new Per Scholas Satellite Learning Model will broaden opportunity to underserved communities throughout the five boroughs, at a time when we need it most. I look forward to building on this innovative new initiative to ensure that we are diversifying the talent in our tech sector and preparing New Yorkers for the jobs of the 21st century,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

The intimate event was streamed from Per Scholas’s Brooklyn Campus, which was recently expanded through the generous support of champion partner Barclays, and featured 19 learners – 10 in Brooklyn and nine in Queens – participating in an IT Support course that commenced last week. 

“Barclays is incredibly proud to support Per Scholas’s efforts to train and prepare more New Yorkers for careers in technology,” said Richard Haworth, Americas CEO, Barclays. “Since 2012, we have partnered with Per Scholas in its mission to create pathways to upwardly mobile careers through financial support, job placement opportunities, and colleague volunteering. We are thrilled to further the impact of Per Scholas’s programming through this expansion.”

Per Scholas is teaming up with Commonpoint Queens and with the JCC of Staten Island as Satellite partners in order to offer these trainings in Queens and Staten Island respectively. Commonpoint Queens will host the course at its Elmhurst Employment Hub and JCC of Staten Island at its Bernikow Headquarters. Per Scholas will provide an Instructional Assistant to be present in satellite classrooms in order to support learners in real-time.

“One of the big keys in building back a more resilient New York City is strategic partnerships and working together,” said Danielle Ellman, CEO of Commonpoint Queens. “We are incredibly excited to work together to take the expertise and rich programming offered by Per Scholas and present it to our community, ensuring that we can train future professionals in emerging fields so that they don’t get left behind.”

JCC of Staten Island CEO Orit Lender said, “We are so thrilled to be partnering with Per Scholas on this initiative, which will launch our Career Connections programming. Working with Per Scholas, we will help bridge the gap for those in our borough looking for tech jobs and create a stronger future for Staten Island. By linking career training to our already robust social services, we will be able to accommodate Staten Islanders with a wide variety of needs and help them get good-paying jobs in the tech sector. I would like to thank Borough President Oddo, the Chamber of Commerce, The Staten Island Foundation, and all of our community partners for their crucial work in creating this partnership.”

According to a recent report from the Center for an Urban Future, nearly one-in-five of all new job postings in New York City during the pandemic were in technology occupations. Demand for tech jobs across the city was more than triple that of marketing and almost five times higher than demand for hospitality or education. As reported last month, New York City has the second-highest average tech salaries in the nation and experienced a double-digit increase, despite the economic impact of COVID-19. 

Over the course of the pandemic, Per Scholas has trained approximately 850 New Yorkers in a virtual setting in a variety of technology tracks including IT Support, Cybersecurity, Software Engineering, AWS re/Start, and more. On average, Per Scholas New York graduates earn four times their pre-training wage in their first job after Per Scholas. 

“By launching our Satellite Model here in New York, Per Scholas continues to expand our impact to train even more New Yorkers for thriving careers in tech. This is how we’re helping to grow back stronger and fuel an equitable recovery here in New York City’s tech sector,” said  Plinio Ayala, Per Scholas President and CEO.  “With its launch, we unlock more potential for the future of Per Scholas locally and will connect more individuals previously underrepresented in tech to careers in a thriving industry. As we learn more based on data and outcomes, we’ll evaluate and adjust this new delivery model, continuing to remove barriers to our nation’s future technologists.” 

Initial support for Per Scholas’s Satellite Model has been generously provided by Amazon and The Tiger Foundation as well as The Altman Foundation, The Aronson Family Foundation, The Clark Foundation, PDT Partners, and The Staten Island Foundation.

“As a company, we’ve made upskilling and workforce development a priority here, in New York City, and nationally, so partnering with Per Scholas is a natural fit for Amazon,” said Carley Graham Garcia, Amazon’s New York City Head of External Affairs. “By expanding educational and job training opportunities in Staten Island, this initiative will help more of our neighbors pursue promising careers, while simultaneously building a talent pipeline and attracting greater economic investment to the borough. We thank the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce and Borough President James Oddo for all their work to make this expansion possible.”

Charles Buice, President of Tiger Foundation, said, “As a supporter of Per Scholas since 1998, Tiger Foundation is thrilled to see Per Scholas expanding its work to help New Yorkers across the city develop skills and connect to jobs with opportunities for growth and advancement. And we are even more excited that they are doing so in close collaboration with other community-based organizations. The ambitious growth that Per Scholas is undertaking will help bring opportunity and crucial supports to many individuals and families and will build needed capacity across the city’s nonprofits and neighborhoods to support careers in technology.” 

For more information, and to learn about upcoming Per Scholas courses offered in New York, please visit PerScholas.org/NewYork.

Editor’s Note: High-resolution photos from today’s celebration are available upon request. Please contact Brad Angevine at bangevine@perscholas.org. 

About Per Scholas

Per Scholas is a national organization that has been advancing economic mobility for 25 years. Through rigorous training, professional development, and robust employer connections, we prepare individuals traditionally underrepresented in technology for high-growth careers in the industry. We partner with leading employers to build more diverse talent pools, directly connecting our graduates to new career opportunities at businesses ranging from Fortune 500 companies to innovative startups. With campuses in 17 cities, Per Scholas has trained more than 14,000 individuals in tech skills, building bridges to careers in technology. To learn more, visit PerScholas.org.

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! 

CBS News featured Per Scholas learner, Richard Escotto on their Sunday Morning program.  The feature focused on how many industries and labor markets are looking for employees following the pandemic and where those employees are working now.  Richard Escotto mentioned that after he lost his restaurant job at the beginning of the pandemic, he decided to change career paths into technology. “[The pandemic] did give me an opportunity that was rare and probably was never going to happen, and sometimes you just have to seize that,” Richard reflected.

Richard Escotto is set to graduate from Per Scholas New York in October 2021 from our Cybersecurity course.

Watch the full video here.

When our learners graduate from Per Scholas and launch their careers in tech, we are confident in their ability to succeed in their IT roles as they are well-rounded with technical skills, career development, and life skills brought on by our Learner Support Team.  Per Scholas created a national Learner Support Team at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, to ensure every learner across every campus could access these supports. A recent multi-year grant from the Anthem Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Anthem, Inc., will help us expand our national Learner Support Team and our ability to provide virtual wellness workshops, COVID-19 health education, and one-on-one mental health sessions, all to manage stress and anxiety during the pandemic and beyond.  As a result of this investment, Per Scholas aims to provide more than 5,250 learners across five states and six cities including in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, and New York with robust wellness, stress management, and benefit navigation services.

We’ve seen the impact of the Learner Support Team on learners including Franchelis Encarnacion and Travis McCullough, who both took advantage of this support.  

Since her childhood in the Dominican Republic, Franchelis was always intrigued by technology and working with computers. Her exposure to technology all began when her mother put her into a computer basics program at the age of ten that piqued her interest throughout her life. In 2021, Franchelis applied for the IT Support course at Per Scholas New York after obtaining her GED at The Door with her passion for technology in mind.  When she first started her training at Per Scholas, Franchelis was concerned that she couldn’t complete her training because everyone else had more experience, but her mentor from the Learner Support Team, Amanda, encouraged her to keep going and was a great point of reference for motivation. “As an ESL learner with Spanish as my first language, it was difficult for me to understand the tech verbiage, but I learned a lot of vocabulary through Per Scholas’ training,” she reflected.  

Franchelis took advantage of the Learner Support Team, a program supported through funding from the Anthem Foundation, multiple times throughout her IT Support cohort. Her interactions with Amanda were centered around course-related stress, test preparation, and confidence-building – all aspects which gave her the capabilities to graduate and now have a job in technology. Since graduation, Franchelis received her Google IT certification and is now working for BNY Mellon on the Returning Home project to help set up computers for those who need assistance. With mentorship and career guidance from the Learner Support Team, Franchelis was confident and skilled enough to move forward in her technology career. 

Another learner that took advantage of our Learner Support Team is Travis McCullough, a recent Per Scholas graduate from our IT Fundamentals cohort after months of remote training.  Previously a paralegal, Travis decided to change career paths and dive further into technology, something he always had an interest in. He would listen to tech podcasts and watch videos to take apart his personal computers but did not have the time, affinity, or money to obtain a four-year degree.  On his decision to apply to Per Scholas, Travis recalled, “I saw online with Per Scholas that everything was straightforward and approachable with no fine print. Per Scholas was here to help me learn at no cost. There were no surprises.”  

Upon his first week of training, Travis was notified of the different resources Per Scholas provides for its learners – one of which he took advantage of as his training progressed.  Travis took advantage of Per Scholas’ Learner Support Team, and reached out to Devin, a Learner Support Manager, to review his financial plan and scholarship opportunities.  They met every two weeks to review different resources for financial planning, test anxiety, study tools, and IT engagement.  Travis recalled the impact his Learner Support Team had on his experience: “It was exactly what I needed; more than what I came to them for. The entire process was awesome.” Now, Travis has graduated, and a new career in IT is on the horizon.

Travis has already acquired his Google IT certification and graduated from Per Scholas at the end of July, tested for his CompTIA A+ certification, and will start his career in technology – where he already has multiple job offers to come his way.  Travis is excited for his future and credits taking advantage of the professional development aspect of his course and the Learner Support Team to reaching this point of his newfound career path – just like Franchelis.

Funding will provide one-on-one support services for learners at six Per Scholas campuses across the country over next three years

New York, NY (August 3, 2021) – Today, national skills training nonprofit Per Scholas announced a multi-year grant from the Anthem Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Anthem, Inc., to expand its national Learner Support Team. Per Scholas, committed to increasing diversity within the tech sector, nationalized Learner Support at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. This grant will expand the tech training organization’s ability to provide virtual wellness workshops, COVID-19 health education, and one-on-one mental health sessions, all with the aim of managing stress and anxiety during the pandemic and beyond.

Through the three-years, with a $700,000 grant from Anthem Foundation, Per Scholas aims to provide more than 5,250 learners across five states and six cities including in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, and New York with robust wellness, stress management, and benefit navigation services.

“COVID-19 has exacerbated many of the physical and mental challenges that Black and brown individuals already face on a day-to-day basis, like career-related anxiety and stress around balancing their work and home life, as well as financial planning. At Per Scholas, we feel it’s our responsibility to support learners throughout their training journey, which is why we’re dedicated to offering robust wellness services as a way to help navigate these challenging times,” said Plinio Ayala, President and CEO of Per Scholas. “The Anthem Foundation’s commitment will provide vital support to thousands of Per Scholas learners over the next three years, ensuring they have access to not just the tech skills, but the life skills they need to secure a good-paying, middle-class career.”

Additionally, the grant will provide ongoing support to alumni who are two-years post-graduation. It is estimated 30 percent of learners will take advantage of the one-on-one individualized service, which will help to facilitate Per Scholas’ nationwide 80 percent placement rate, ultimately enabling learners and alumni from diverse backgrounds to secure quality careers in the tech field.

“Evidence suggests the lack of diversity in the tech industry, coupled with the pandemic’s economic consequences has impacted this disparity even more, which underscores the importance of addressing racial inequalities in the workforce,” said Felicia Norwood, EVP and President, Government Business Division, Anthem, Inc. “Through our collaboration with Per Scholas, we are working to create a more diverse workforce and build pathways to careers in technology for residents in our communities.”

Since the Learner Support Team began to offer its support nationally in March 2020, more than 600 learners have benefitted from quarterly expert panels featuring established speakers to explore the connection between wellness and professional success; weekly wellness and wealth building series to identify strategies, strengthen skills and build reflective personal practices; and opt-in one on one coaching. Coaching is learner-led and structured around goal setting and building plans to achieve them.

To learn more about Per Scholas and its nationally recognized tech training, now offered in 17 cities across the nation, please visit PerScholas.org.

About Per Scholas

Per Scholas is a national organization that has been advancing economic mobility for 25 years. Through rigorous training, professional development, and robust employer connections, we prepare individuals traditionally underrepresented in technology for high-growth careers in the industry. We partner with leading employers to build more diverse talent pools, directly connecting our graduates to new career opportunities at businesses ranging from Fortune 500 companies to innovative startups. With campuses in 17 major metropolitan areas, Per Scholas has trained more than 14,000 individuals in tech skills, building bridges to careers in technology. To learn more, visit perscholas.org.

About Anthem Foundation

The Anthem Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Anthem, Inc. and through charitable contributions and programs, the Foundation promotes the organization’s commitment to improving lives and communities. Through strategic partnerships and programs, the Foundation addresses the social drivers that will help create a healthier generation of Americans in communities that Anthem, Inc. and its affiliated health plans serve.  The Foundation focuses its funding on critical initiatives that make up its Healthy Generations Program, a multi-generational initiative that targets: maternal health, diabetes prevention, cancer prevention, heart health and healthy, active lifestyles, behavioral health efforts and programs that benefit people with disabilities. The Foundation also coordinates the company’s year-round Dollars for Dollars program which provides a 100 percent match of associates’ donations, as well as its Volunteer Time Off and Dollars for Doers community service programs. To learn more about the Anthem Foundation, please visit http://www.anthem.foundation and its blog at https://medium.com/anthemfoundation.