Per Scholas Institute for Technology graduates at pinning ceremony
The Per Scholas Institute for Technology is our flagship initiative. It offers comprehensive and free IT professional training and job placement services to nearly 400 students/year in New York City. Beginning in 2012, Per Scholas will open a new training location in Columbus, Ohio, along with two other cities before 2015.
The Per Scholas Institute for Technology answers a growing problem…
It’s been called a jobless recovery. But across large sectors of the economy, employer demand for skilled information workers continues to grow. This demand is expected to create 3.7 million new IT jobs alone before 2016.
The real problem is a lack of meaningful post-secondary education, training and professional skills and credentials that keeps millions of Americans and their family members from moving up the economic ladder. A large share are people of color living in underserved urban communities.
With an innovative model…
We recruit low-income, underskilled urban adults (ages 18+) — with a special focus on disconnected urban youth, veterans and women — and immerse them in 15 weeks of full-time, classroom-based IT training, We also provide 72 hours of individualized “soft skills” development and address other barriers to each student’s success. Graduates receive ongoing professional and job development services, and can convert their training into 10 college credits.
…And a proven approach
The Per Scholas IT Workforce Development Program reduces poverty and creates technology-driven economic opportunity for thousands of individuals. In a 2010 published study funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and conducted by Public/Private Ventures, graduates “had significantly higher earnings and were significantly more likely to work—and work in jobs with higher wages—than their control counterparts.
