Per Scholas is joining General Assembly at its first-ever Career Lab events in New York, Washington, D.C. and Atlanta on February 11. Career Lab is a one-day event in cities across the country with leaders in tech to help start or advance individual’s careers in top tech fields. Professionals at all experience levels can explore new paths to success in the competitive fields of web development, data, user experience design, digital marketing, and product management.

In all cities, participants will hear about opportunities in tech, take a career aptitude test and a career next step class, learn about data science, digital marketing, coding, visual design, JavaScript, UX Design, and more. The full day event will include networking opportunities and a chance to hear from experts about the region’s tech ecosystem. No matter an individual’s current role or field, this career event will arm participants with the motivation and tools needed to find or pursue their passion.

Reserve your spot today in Washington, D.C., New York, and Atlanta.

On Tuesday, December 13, 2016, Per Scholas and the Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF) hosted the second Diverse by Design, a conversation series about building diversity and inclusion in the workforce. The event, hosted at Google’s headquarters in D.C., included nearly 150 guests comprising of C-Suite individuals, employer partners, public servants, and leaders from nonprofits and foundations, who elevated best practices and partnerships to build an inclusive and diverse workforce.

The afternoon was kicked off by Damien Howard, VP of Social Ventures at Per Scholas who got attendees fired up and ready to go and reminded us all, “smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.” Shortly thereafter, Melissa Stallings, Managing Director of the National Capital Region with Per Scholas shared some local insights, elevating pipelines and partnerships in the D.C. region. Melissa shared the story of a recent Per Scholas graduate, Renique King, who had this to say about her time at Per Scholas: “During my studies, I embraced the culture, staff, my instructor, my classmates, and each day of lessons. Every day I learned something new about IT and myself.” Melissa set the tone for the rest of the afternoon with this quote: “Let today’s event be what spurs you into action to put into place or further develop strategic and thoughtful initiatives that create and sustain an inclusive, equitable, and innovative tech ecosystem.”

Co-Chairs of the National Working Group, Toacca Rutherford, Chief Development Officer, Consumer Business Banking and Auto IT, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Gene Waddy, CEO at DIVERSANT took the stage to share stories from their careers and continued investment in the Diverse by Design movement. Toacca emphasized the need to create pathways for untapped talent and hopes that one day, “#diversebydesign” will be a verb like “Google.”

Chair Jenny Yang, of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, charged the audience to increase diversity by embedding equality, broadening networks, and evaluating benefits, she shared an awesome resource: The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s Action Grid on how to promote diversity and inclusion in the science and technology workforces.

Dr. Talmesha Richards, Chief Academic and Diversity Officer, STEMconnector and Million Women Mentor, was the 1st of two Ignite presentations scheduled for the afternoon. Her harrowing tale involved a fellow student explaining that she would never win a math competition because she was “a girl.” The audience learned, not only did she win the competition but she continued on a multi-year winning streak and brought the entire audience to a round of applause. She ended her speech firmly stating “With STEM mentoring everyone wins. With #Diversity, EVERYONE wins.”

The momentum from Dr. Talemsha Richards, carried over into a powerhouse panel, introduced by Errika Mallet, led by Terrance Bowman, JPMorgan Chase & Co. On stage, D.C. Deputy Mayor Courtney Snowden, Jamika Burge, Capital One, Chanelle Hardy, Google, Marty Rodgers, Accenture and Nicole Cozier with the Human Rights Campaign discussed cross-cutting and collaborative partnerships between private and public spheres. The panel also emphasized success stories from their own companies. Chanelle Hardy was able to share that a Mexican American employee at Google attributed his idea for a blue colored phone to his heritage and the result was millions in revenue for Google. The panelists agreed that in order for a company to succeed in their diversity efforts, leadership needs to have the “tough conversations.” Some choice quotes from the panel include:

• “Diversity is like being invited to the party and inclusion is being asked to dance”- Jamika Burge, Capital One
• “Talent is ubiquitous, but opportunity is not. Looking for untapped talent? Go to where the untapped talent is.” – Courtney Snowden, DC Deputy Mayor
• “When you’re in that power seat, ask the hard questions” – Chanelle Hardy, Google

Per Scholas’ Kenneth Walker, VP of Operations introduced the Keynote conversation between Michael Bennett, Executive Vice President at Evan & Chambers Technology and Viola Maxwell-Thompson, President at ITSMF.

During the conversation, Michael Bennett walked through his decision to shift from a career in law to tech. His efforts to promote diversity focused on being intentional and ensuring that he hired “someone who sees the world a little differently” When looking at current diversity efforts by organizations, Michael pointed out, “the pipeline does not matter if the organizational chart stays the same. He shared five leadership principals with the audience that he believe are necessary to building diverse and inclusive workplaces. They include:

• Authenticity
• Carefully Weighted Decisions
• Integrated Thought Leadership
• Trust Your Gut
• Servant Leadership

The final Ignite presentation from Tonia Wellons, VP for Community Investment with The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region, focused on her career and journey embracing culture and inclusion as pillars within her work.

Viola Maxwell-Thompson of ITSMF closed us out but asked the audience to remain engaged with Diverse by Design as we continue to elevate and model real solutions creating impact on diversity and inclusion numbers across our nation’s workforce.

“Thank you to all who attended,” Kenneth Walker of Per Scholas shared, “Thank you to each of our guests for joining us in a dynamic and intentional conversation. Collaboration and partnership are the keys to our success and we are fortunate to be learning alongside industry leaders in both public and private spheres and hope to carry this momentum forward into 2017.”

Here is how you can keep the momentum going!

• Continue to use #DiverseByDesign on your social media platforms when talking about diversity and inclusion. Tag @PerScholas and @itsmfonline!
• Encourage a colleague or friend to join our Diverse by Design mailing list by clicking here. 
• Diversity Leadership Action Grid referenced by EEOC Chair Jenny Yang and the Pathways to Inclusion report produced by District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser.
• For more information

To learn more about our panelists and speakers, visit our speakers page here. Many thanks to our  partners at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Google for their generous support of Diverse by Design.

In recognition of Per Scholas’ commitment to opening doors to technology careers for individuals from often overlooked communities, the DC Catalogue for Philanthropy announced that Per Scholas will be included in its 2016-2017 edition.  

The Catalogue for Philanthropy is the National Capital Region’s guide to local giving. The carefully cultivated guide aims to create strong and vibrant communities by connecting caring citizens with worthy community causes. Since 2003, the Catalogue has raised more than $30 million for its network of local, vetted charities.

A job can change everything. And, reports show there are plenty to go around: there are currently 5.5 million job openings the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that by 2020 employment in all computer occupations is expected to increase by 22 percent.

However, the large number of openings and the high growth projections signals that employers can’t find the workers with the right skills for the open jobs that they have. And yet, so many people across the country are consistently overlooked for these open positions.  

The people being overlooked have the desire to do more and be more, but are often stuck at a job that doesn’t pay well, provide benefits or offer opportunities for growth. They do not know how to make a change and cannot afford to pay for lengthy schooling or high-cost training programs.

That’s where Per Scholas comes in. Every single person who comes to Per Scholas is looking to make a change in their life. But, many don’t expect it to change their entire life.

Take Taj for example. Taj has always been an ambitious person with an unwavering determination to be successful. However, due to financial constraints, Taj was forced to drop out of college after one year. His departure from school also began to cause a strain on the relationship between him and his parents, so he moved out and supported himself by working in restaurants. Each night he would come home and realize that the hospitality industry would not support his financial needs nor would it fulfill the ambitions he had for himself. “Emotionally it was challenging because I always had high aspirations for myself,” he says. Now, since completing his training with Per Scholas, Taj is finding greater success than he thought possible: “I currently work for a company that cares about my success. They pay for my training and my boss sits right next to me!”

Our rigorous IT training and professional development enables graduates to acquire new skills, certifications, connections, a sense of purpose and self-worth and prepares them for a career. Eighty percent of the time, graduates find a career within one year – and that career comes with a steady paycheck, benefits and ultimately reduces – or removes – the need for public assistance.

Per Scholas works to ensure every graduate is confident in their skills, their training and themselves to reach for those open jobs and a better future. For our graduates, a job changes everything.

Only Award of its Kind Recognizes Excellence in Nonprofit Management in NYC

October was Cybersecurity Month, and at Per Scholas, we’re proud to offer several cybersecurity training opportunities – including one we kicked off this fall.

Our newest Per Scholas site in Brooklyn is home to a 16-week cybersecurity training track, developed in close partnership with Barclays – which has committed to hiring 10 Per Scholas cybersecurity students for six-month paid internships upon graduation.

In 2015, there were more than 209,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs in the U.S., and more than one million around the world. By 2019, that number is projected to reach 6 million. Our collaboration with Barclays will enable Per Scholas students to gain real-world experience in the financial services cybersecurity after graduation that will prepare them for careers in this growing field.

The site in Brooklyn joins the National Capital Region as the second Per Scholas site to offer cybersecurity training. Just one year ago, we launched a partnership with cybersecurity giant Symantec when it invested $375,000 in cybersecurity training at our National Capital Region site. We became a Cyber Career Connection (S3C) partner to train military veterans for careers in cybersecurity.

Through the SC3 cybersecurity program, Per Scholas provides military veterans with tuition-free training in IT support and cybersecurity. The first eight weeks of training facilitated by Per Scholas prepare participants with the foundation of IT infrastructure and support leading to the CompTIA A+ certification. The second phase of the training is provided in partnership with Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) and provides four additional months of training that leads to Network+, Security+ and Ethical Hacker Certifications and entry-level employment assistance into cybersecurity.

Through this partnership, Per Scholas has trained seven veterans so far for the National Capital Region’s growing cybersecurity industry.

President and CEO Plinio Ayala (second from left) is joined by fellow finalist Paloma Hernandez (second from right) who serves as the CEO of Urban Health Plan. They are joined by Per Scholas Chief Operating Officer Michelle Pullaro (left) and Urban Health Plan Chief Talent and Learning Officer Rosa Agosto (right).

Per Scholas is delighted to be featured as one of Independent Sector’s “Model Partnerships for Impact” case studies which seeks to highlight healthy relationships between grantees and funders. Working with Creating IT Futures Foundation serves as a premiere example of how we build relationships to ensure we are meeting our mission. In the case study, Independent Sector describes our partnership as “a thoughtful risk [that] created beneficial returns for both the grantee and funder organizations.”

Conversations between Per Scholas CEO, Plinio Ayala and Creating IT Futures CEO, Charles Eaton began informally after a meeting in 2010. The partnership quickly expanded and attention was focused in three individual cities with step down funding over three years. Plinio explains that, Per Scholas took time “understanding the market, the companies there. [Eaton] understood it takes time to scale, it takes time to gain momentum, and he didn’t judge us on our first year of performance.” In addition to the 1,600 job placements since the partnership launched “this partnership shows how a small foundation, in the worst economic times, can take a huge, calculated risk because they found the right organization with which to scale its work.”

To read more of the Independent Sector Case Study, click here.

About Independent Sector 

A leadership network for nonprofits, foundations, and corporations committed to advancing the common good, launched “Model Partnerships for Impact” as a follow up pilot to the Threads nationwide community conversations.  In every city, one impediment to meeting mission was consistently raised by both nonprofit and foundation professionals: the strained relationship between grantees and funders. This body of work is a pilot for IS of developing deep, customized programming based on a community-voiced need articulated to IS from leaders in the field. The goal in this work is to help grantees and funders have healthier relationships so organizations can better fulfill their missions and strengthen the communities they serve.

About Creating IT Futures Foundation

As the philanthropic arm of CompTIA, the world’s largest IT industry association, the Creating IT Futures Foundation is taking on this workforce challenge through research, program development and partnering. We create on-ramps for more people to prepare for, secure and succeed in IT careers. We particularly encourage an IT path for populations that traditionally have been under-represented in the information technology workforce, such as women and ethnic minorities. Founded in 1998, the Creating IT Futures Foundation is registered as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization with the Internal Revenue Service. 

Tech Training Nonprofit’s Growth Supported by Barclays, AT&T, Office of the Brooklyn Borough President, The New York Community Trust, and Empire State Development

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (September 28, 2016) – Hundreds of community members, nonprofit and business leaders, and Per Scholas students and alumni celebrated Per Scholas’ expansion to Brooklyn yesterday, marking the organization’s second New York location. New York State Department of Financial Services Superintendent Maria Vullo applauded Per Scholas’ tenacity in providing rigorous, tuition-free technology training to New Yorkers striving for careers in technology. The expansion to Brooklyn will enable Per Scholas to train an additional 140 New Yorkers annually, resulting in more than 550 New Yorkers trained and prepared for technology careers every year.

Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) Superintendent Maria T. Vullo remarked, “I want to congratulate Per Scholas for providing New York communities with innovative and vital opportunities for advancement in technology, and for educating the next generation of leaders. I am honored to be part of the grand opening of Per Scholas’ second New York location and its first in Brooklyn, my hometown borough. As Superintendent of DFS, I believe it is imperative that we serve all New Yorkers in their financial services needs, and that we are committed to innovative leadership, such as with our recent cybersecurity regulation, the first of its kind in the nation. Through training provided by Per Scholas, New Yorkers will have the necessary skills to flourish at the forefront of emerging and groundbreaking industries.”

Per Scholas’ expansion to Brooklyn was made possible through the generous support of lead sponsor Barclays, as well as AT&T, The New York Community Trust, the Office of Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Empire State Development, and individual contributors.

“It was an honor to be part of this special day as Per Scholas opens its doors to help many more people in Brooklyn and the surrounding communities with this fantastic new facility,” said Jes Staley, Group Chief Executive Officer, Barclays. “Barclays is proud not only to partner with Per Scholas but to play a part in driving economic growth and social progress overall. This is not just about ensuring we’re operating with transparency and integrity, but also highlighting the humanity that sits behind finance, and the ability of financial services, and banks like Barclays, to support people in achieving their ambitions. It is about our determination to leave things better than when we found them and we know that if we partner with the best, like Per Scholas, we can make an even deeper impact in our communities.”

“The jobs of today and tomorrow are rooted in technology, and our workforce must be planted in the high-quality tech skills needed to succeed in the marketplace. I am pleased to support Per Scholas in the outfitting of training labs for their new Bedford-Stuyvesant facility that promises to support a diverse and talented array of students,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams.

“As a global tech company that is on the front lines of innovation, AT&T is constantly thinking about what the workforce of the future – and our future employees – will need for success. That is why we are so proud to have stepped up our commitment to education, including with our continued support of Per Scholas as it expands its unique training model to Brooklyn,” said Marissa Shorenstein, New York State president, AT&T. “Not only is Brooklyn home to many tech companies, it is also home to many communities in need of the career opportunities that Per Scholas provides. We know that this new Per Scholas site in Brooklyn will empower many more New Yorkers to hit the ground running with the skills they need to succeed.”

“Per Scholas has a great track record of being ahead of the curve and teaching the right skills at the right time,” says The New York Community Trust Senior Program Officer Roderick Jenkins. “Their new location in Brooklyn shows that they’re also doing their work in the right places.”

“Per Scholas provides training for low-income New Yorkers to obtain good jobs in the high growth IT sector, providing the tools needed to launch a career,” said Empire State Development President, CEO & Commissioner Howard Zemsky. “Under Governor Cuomo’s leadership we are doing more than ever to support workforce development across New York State.”

Last week, Per Scholas New York launched a new cybersecurity training track, powered in large part by Barclays. Twenty new Per Scholas students started the course at the organization’s South Bronx headquarters and are expected to move to new classroom space at 630 Flushing Avenue in Brooklyn this fall. More than half of the new students call Brooklyn home and, staying true to its commitment to student diversity, Per Scholas is welcoming a class where 40 percent of students are women and 30 percent are veterans.

Through rigorous and tuition-free technology training and professional development, Per Scholas has helped thousands of individuals who are unemployed or underemployed launch successful careers in technology, while creating real onramps to businesses in need of their talents. Per Scholas’ training has been evaluated and found to be among the most successful in independent, controlled, and randomized research, most recently reflected in MDRC’s WorkAdvance report.

“We’re very grateful to our supporters including Barclays, AT&T, the Office of Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, The New York Community Trust, and Empire State Development, to help us expand into one of New York’s hottest boroughs for tech,” said Per Scholas President and CEO Plinio Ayala. “For more than 20 years we’ve remained steadfast in our commitment to training individuals in overlooked communities who may lack the opportunities, but not the motivation or intellectual curiosity, to join the ranks of our nation’s growing tech sector.”

To learn more about Per Scholas Brooklyn, please visit www.PerScholas.org/Brooklyn.

Full press release can be found here.

EDITOR’S NOTE: High-res photos from yesterday’s Grand Opening Celebration are available upon request. To request photos or to coordinate interviews with leadership from Per Scholas, Barclays, AT&T, The New York Community Trust, the Office or Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams, and Empire State Development please contact Sara Neumann at sara@cfoxcommunications.com or (202) 256-8687.

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About Per Scholas

Per Scholas is a national nonprofit that drives positive and proven social change in communities across the country. Through rigorous and tuition-free technology training and professional development, Per Scholas prepares motivated and curious adults who are un- or underemployed for transformative careers in the tech sector, while creating onramps to businesses in need of their talents. Per Scholas provides its solution in six cities across the country: Atlanta, GA; Greater Cincinnati, OH; Columbus, OH; Dallas, TX; the National Capital Region; and New York, NY. To date, Per Scholas has trained over 6,000 individuals, helping them build lasting, life-changing careers in technology. For more information, visit perscholas.org, Twitter @PerScholas and Facebook.

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Powered by Barclays, students will soon move to new site in Brooklyn