Per Scholas Detroit Alumni Terrell Hemphill discussed his training at Per Scholas during a presentation with CAEL -(Council for Adult and Experiential Learning) on Learnings from the Field: Worker-Centered Benchmarking Project. CAEL partners with entities across the adult learner ecosystem to help create actionable career pathways along the journey of lifelong learning and meaningful work.

Terrell interned with one of Per Scholas’ funders, Corporation Skilled for Workforce, and his experience and work as an advocate for workforce solutions has been highlighted with CAEL, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the Aspen Institute.

Read more about his presentation here.

Watch the full presentation here.

As part of CNBC Make It’s Ditching the Degree series, Per Scholas Alumna Ayana Dunlap is featured as a woman who built a six-figure career without a bachelor’s degree. She shares with readers how the combination of the skills she built at Per Scholas and her transferable skills led to her transition from hospitality to her current role as the Assistant Vice President of Operations and Information Technology at the Bank Policy Institute. She’s now earning about $125,000 less than 4 years after graduating from Per Scholas, a salary that Dunlap says would have been “unimaginable” at this point in her career, had she stayed in hospitality.

Read the article to learn more about her journey.

Per Scholas Celebrates $20 Million Investment from Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott

Transformational Investment Propels and Positions Tech Skills Nonprofit for National Future Impact

BRONX, New York (September 28, 2023) – Per Scholas, a national nonprofit committed to advancing economic mobility and unlocking potential through technology career training, today announced a $20 million investment from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.

Receiving this transformational investment from MacKenzie Scott, one of the most dynamic philanthropists in modern times, is a testament to Per Scholas' impact over our nearly 30 year history. As we've evolved from a computer recycler in the South Bronx to a technical skills trainer in 22 cities and counting across America, we are so grateful for this $20 million gift – the largest, unrestricted funding our organization has ever received. This investment will propel Per Scholas for even greater national impact well into the future, centered on growth and innovation and ensuring our alumni achieve a thriving wage through our Career Accelerator. — Plinio Ayala, President & CEO, Per Scholas

To date, Per Scholas has prepared more than 20,000 individuals across the U.S. for high-growth careers in technology by offering tuition-free, rigorous, 12- to 15-week training in the nation’s most in-demand tech skills. The evidence-based Per Scholas model has been proven in multiple gold-standard research studies, and on average, Per Scholas-trained technologists go on to earn three times their pre-training wage in their first job following graduation. All told, Per Scholas graduates have earned more than $2.4 billion in their post-Per Scholas careers, powering economic advancement in communities across the nation.

Per Scholas connects graduates to high growth careers through our network of 850+ employer partners, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to innovative startups, and supports alumni through the organization’s latest innovation, the Career Accelerator, which provides Per Scholas alumni short-term upskilling opportunities, in turn propelling careers. As a result, every dollar invested in Per Scholas results in at least $8 in net economic return.

I'd like to express my most heartfelt gratitude to Per Scholas staff, funders, employer partners, and supporters, who have believed in our mission to advance economic equity and increase opportunity through America's hottest sector - technology. While the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted life in ways previously unimagined, it presented the opportunity for Per Scholas to innovate a new delivery model, which proved so successful that we were able to scale our impact four-fold. I echo Plinio's gratitude to Ms. Scott - this $20 million investment will certainly position Per Scholas well into our next decade of unlocking potential. — Lewis Miller, Per Scholas Co-Founder and National Board Chair

Today, Per Scholas operates in 20+ U.S. markets including Atlanta, Baltimore, Greater Boston, Chicago, Greater Cincinnati, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Newark, New York, North Carolina, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Seattle, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. This investment will enable Per Scholas to continue to expand its training and talent solutions to additional communities across the United States, with the goal of training 10,000 learners per year by 2026.

About Per Scholas
For more than 25 years, Per Scholas has been advancing equity and increasing opportunity across America. Per Scholas unlocks potential for individuals, communities, and employers through rigorous training for careers in tech. Partnering with dynamic employer partners, from Fortune 500 companies to innovative startups, we are building sustainable and diverse talent pipelines, together changing the face of tech. With national remote training and campuses in 20+ cities and growing, Per Scholas offers tuition-free training in the most in-demand tech skills, including Cloud, Cybersecurity, Data Engineering, IT Support, Software Engineering, and more.

To date, more than 20,000 individuals have gained the skills to launch high-growth tech careers, earning three times their pre-training wage. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging is in our DNA: 85 percent of Per Scholas learners are people of color, two in five are women, and more than half have a high school diploma as their highest education credential. Visit PerScholas.org and follow us on LinkedIn, X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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Meet Esther, Per Scholas Dallas Graduate & Technologist 

Esther is just one of Per Scholas’ 20,000+ alumni. She’s a proud Per Scholas Dallas IT Support graduate and successful career switcher, living her dream of working in tech. Click below to hear her story and how she’s benefitting from the Career Accelerator – earning more stackable credentials to propel her tech career! 

Four Per Scholas alumnae were interviewed and featured in an article for The Muse, the first values-based career platform, helping individuals connect with jobs, companies, and careers that align with their core values and priorities.

Anita Bailey, Rumana Syed, Fabianna Rodriguez-Mercado, and Misty Branch all underscored the need to diversify the tech workforce and how Per Scholas is doing so through our no-cost training, where a third of our learners are women and 85% are people of color.

“Tech is an industry that’s evolving and will continue evolving,” Rodriguez-Mercado says. “We need more women and underrepresented communities to be part of these conversations.”

Read the full article for The Muse here!

Per Scholas North Carolina’s training and $1 million grant from Truist Foundation was featured on WBTV’s news program. Dedrick Russell, Executive Producer for Community Content at WBTV spoke with Jeff Jones, Per Scholas North Carolina alumni, and Kim Gomme, current learner, to get their insight and experience with their training.

The campus’s Managing Director Mike Terrell discussed the impact of the $1 million grant in expanding to rural communities and how having a diverse workforce is necessary for the industry.

Watch the full feature here and read more about the segment here.

On July 20, Per Scholas Diverse by Design hosted our first-ever Unlocking Potential Summer Concert and Spoken Word Celebration. This hybrid event, produced live from Per Scholas New York and Per Scholas North Carolina and streamed at PerScholas.org/Concert, brought together Per Scholas staff, learners, alumni, partners, advisory board members, and more to rally around our mission to unlocking potential. 

This inspiring event featured talented musicians and poets who work, learn, and partner with Per Scholas, including:

• Deji Adefuye, Per Scholas Dallas Teaching Fellow, who premiered two original songs titled Persevere and You Believe In You
• Melodie Rodgers, Per Scholas Manager of Career Advancement, sharing her original poem, Unlock Your Potential 
• Zaidi Howard, Per Scholas Chicago Teaching Fellow, sharing his original poem, Soul Questions 
• Caprice Green, Per Scholas Detroit Alumna, performing Astonishing from Little Women 
• Mike Terrell, Per Scholas North Carolina Managing Director, performing Tears for Fears’ Everybody Wants to Rule the World 
• Omoanatse McCarther, Per Scholas Diverse by Design Senior Director, sharing her original poem, Forged Key 
• Broadway Star Tim Connell, performing Corner of the Sky from Pippin
• Nonprofit Consultant and Leadership Coach Saundra Thomas, performing her original poem, Silver Linings

Hosted by Executive Vice President for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Culture Ken Walker, viewers had the opportunity to hear from our EVP of People Montreece Smith, Regional Senior Vice Presidents Noah Mitchell, Jaclyn Boyes, and Robin Nadeau, as well as President and CEO Plinio Ayala. Chief Development Officer Caitlyn Brazill delivered remarks live from the Bronx and introduced the final performances. 

Scores of Per Scholians came together for this exciting event; many thanks to Per Scholas Columbus, Per Scholas Dallas, Per Scholas New York Bronx, and Per Scholas North Carolina for hosting on-campus viewing parties.

In closing, the event showcased just a handful of our brilliant Per Scholas alumni, which you can watch here.  If you missed the Unlocking Potential Summer Concert and Spoken Word Celebration, you can watch the recording here! If you feel inspired and want to help unlock potential, please give at perscholas.org/donate.

Per Scholas Baltimore, led by Managing Director Jessica Diaz Council, was featured in Technical.ly Baltimore, highlighting their skills training and professional development aspects. The Baltimore campus holds mock interviews and headshot lounge sessions in addition to our tuition-free tech training.

The article also noted Per Scholas Baltimore’s efforts to close the diversity gap in tech and recent Bank of America Neighborhood Builders award and featured alumna LaLonnie Moseley’s story.

Read the full story here!

On May 25th, Red Nose Day returns for its 9th official year, and Per Scholas is excited and honored to have been selected as one of this year’s grantee partners! Red Nose Day is an annual fundraising event held by Comic Relief US that seeks to raise life-changing funds to help end the cycle of poverty and ensure children are safe, healthy, educated, and empowered across the U.S. and around the world.

Since 2015, the campaign has taken a multifaceted approach to tackling both the consequences and root causes of child poverty, focusing on the four pillars of health, safety, education and empowerment. In addition to trying to remove systemic barriers, Red Nose Day-funded programs also strive to provide long-term solutions that set children up for a lifetime of success.

As such, Red Nose Day funds transformative programs from 50 trailblazing organizations, large and small, in the U.S. and globally, that exhibit “expertise in implementing community-led solutions to ensure that all children thrive and have access to a healthy future.” 

Per Scholas was one of the 50 organizations selected this year, recognized for its work in using the power of education to transform lives, empower communities, and end cycles of poverty. Per Scholas helps prepare 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.

One such learner who launched a thriving career through Per Scholas training is Jadah Stone, a young New Yorker who was always interested in tech but, upon graduating high school, was not sure how to get started in the field. “I had a broad idea of what IT was, and I had a broad idea of what tech was,” Jadah said of herself at the time. “I knew that I wanted to do it, but I wasn’t really sure how to break into the field and how to really solidify myself academically. Per Scholas was instrumental in providing that structure and a clear path… it was also really motivational in helping me stay on track because they gave me a way to envision what my life could be like after all the hard work paid off.” 

After graduating, Jadah successfully launched her career in tech, working first in Application Support at Mitchell Martin, then as an IT Support Specialist at Casper alongside a few other Per Scholas alumni. She now works as a Systems Engineer at Sachs Cloud Services, a position she greatly enjoys.

Jadah loves her work and plans to continue learning and growing within the tech field for the rest of her life. “I want to say thank you to Per Scholas for helping me to solidify the foundations of becoming a person who is able to be successful in the tech world,” Jadah said. “And thank you to Per Scholas for providing really amazing resources for people that might not have otherwise been able to have an opportunity like this.”

Last year’s Red Nose Day had a record-breaking year, raising over $50 million. “This year, Comic Relief US is building on the momentum of our most successful fundraising year ever in 2022 by broadening our transformative community of grantee partners and increasing funding for programs addressing ongoing social inequities,” said Alison Moore, CEO of Comic Relief US. “It’s an honor to help these organizations become even bigger changemakers in the lives of the children and young people they serve in the communities most impacted, and we are so grateful for our partners and the millions of people who support Red Nose Day, allowing us to invest in organizations and social impact programs that help build healthy lives and futures that all children deserve.”

Supporters can buy the campaign’s signature Red Nose exclusively at nearly 9,000 Walgreens and Duane Reade locations for just $1 each and can also donate in stores via pin-pad at checkout. Donning the red nose is a great way to celebrate the campaign’s annual tradition, and 100% of proceeds directly benefit Red Nose Day, helping to make a real difference in the lives of underserved children in America and around the world. 

Every company is a tech company and in need of skilled tech talent. Per Scholas was proud to welcome NPR National Labor and Workplace Correspondent Andrea Hsu to our National Capital Region campus recently to connect with learners about their aspirations for careers in technology.

Per Scholas President and CEO Plinio Ayala discussed how every company is a tech company and how, despite the mass layoffs from tech companies, there are still hundreds of thousands of tech jobs available throughout the country.  Additionally, Per Scholas Instructor Keionna Yarborough and three current Per Scholas learners Elizabeth Mabrey, Michael Gomez, and Johntel Brandy, shared their experiences as technologists.

Read Andrea’s insightful piece, or listen to her reporting on the Consider This Podcast!

Per Scholas is focused on driving positive social change, and over the last 20 years, has worked closely with partners like JPMorgan Chase to move this mission forward. Thanks directly to philanthropic investments from JPMorgan Chase, Per Scholas has been able to accomplish many huge achievements. For example, the philanthropic support was integral to expanding our first campuses beyond New York, to Cincinnati and Columbus, which helped set the stage for scaling our training to the 19 campuses we have in cities across the U.S. It also helped launch our Dallas campus in 2015 and catalyzed investment in Per Scholas’ earned revenue model for customized training, which has allowed us to continue our growth. 

Our partnership with JPMorgan Chase has also allowed us to foster a national dialogue about equity and inclusion through the support of Diverse by Design, create a national strategy focusing on IT career pathways for young adults, and create a powerful network of alumni at JPMorgan Chase by hiring more than a dozen Per Scholas graduates.

One Per Scholas graduate who now works at JPMorgan Chase is Selasi Fiadzigbe, who graduated from Per Scholas New York’s Cybersecurity course in 2020. Prior to Per Scholas, Selasi had earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from John Jay College, but he soon realized that he was not happy with his career path and started considering other options. 

Selasi had always been interested in computers – he had built, fixed, and used them all his life. He was intrigued by Cybersecurity and started looking for ways to break into the field, ultimately applying to Per Scholas’ Cybersecurity course.

Selasi found his time at Per Scholas to be difficult but rewarding. There was a lot of information to digest, and each day brought something new to learn. Selasi loved his instructor, who was himself a Per Scholas alumni, and understood what his students were going through as they sought to change their lives through the program. Selasi’s instructor helped and supported him throughout the course and as he launched his career after graduation. The two have stayed in touch to this day.

Selasi worked as a Cyber Security Analyst at Ankura for two years and recently transitioned to a new role at JPMorgan Chase as an Attack Analyst. He loves his current job because it provides him with many resources and opportunities for growth and more learning. “The team is so big,” Selasi said of his new role at JPMorgan Chase. “There are so many smart people around you to learn from. There are so many learning and training opportunities that the team finds time for you to work through, and there is so much opportunity for growth or to pivot to other roles. The resources that are available to you are great. For someone who is still learning and is hungry for knowledge, it is a perfect place to be.”