Kelly had dabbled in tech and found it interesting, but he had never seriously considered pursuing it as a career option. He was working in various capacities in the political sphere and seemed to be growing in this field but wasn’t satisfied with the inconsistent employment opportunities that didn’t allow for a healthy work-life balance.
Kelly also was apprehensive of pursuing tech as a career as he was intimidated by the idea of returning to school. He attempted to take a cybersecurity bootcamp with a top university but could not finish due to the financial burden. Kelly decided to take a break and figure out what he really wanted to do in life and applied to many jobs in different areas but received many denials.
While job searching, he discovered NPower and notes that it was the best thing he could ever be a part of. Not only did he learn about the fundamentals of tech, and receive certifications within months, while honing his professional development skills, he solidified that he wanted a career in Project Management in an IT environment.
Kelly has recently explored furthering his education to advance his career at his current company.
“Furthermore, the greatest thing about the program was that it was completely free and all I had to do was sacrifice my time to learn. Joining NPower was the best decision I’ve made and I’m eager to see what my IT journey has ahead of me.”
NPower Michigan is honored to have been selected as one of the nonprofit partners awarded the 2024 Bank of America Charitable Foundation Grants for Economic Mobility. This grant recognizes their work in serving the Detroit community by providing free tech training and a clear path to economic mobility through high-quality tech jobs.
This generous contribution will significantly bolster the delivery of their IT workforce development program and help to expand their impact. Bank of America’s investment in NPower Michigan is an investment in the future of Detroit and will empower more Detroiters to thrive within their communities!
Resident of Detroit’s Eastside and a recent June NPower Michigan graduate, Jordan came to the program with resilience, determination, grit, and grace having navigated a myriad of life challenges. His love and passion for tech was evident in his ability to configure and improve devices but the path to turning his passion into a paycheck was unclear.
Until he discovered NPower!
Bringing his full self to the program, Jordan leveraged the tools, resources, and network NPower provided and is now fully equipped to turn his dreams into a reality and start a fulfilling career in tech.
Having served over 400 young adults and veterans in the Detroit Metropolitan area since 2020, NPower Michigan’s program is a sustainable solution and pathway to prosperity and generational wealth. “Aswe consider the current challenges to economic mobility and advancing digital equity, this award will catalyze our efforts to train and launch careers in tech for more Detroiters and allow us to expand our impact within our community,” stated José Reyes, Executive Director of NPower Michigan.
Support from Bank of America enables NPower Michigan to continue the mission of providing access to opportunity to countless individuals like Jordan.
Equitable access to tech career pathways is urgently needed following affirmative action’s dismantlement, the decline of four-year college enrollment, and the growing demand for rapid reskilling as automation and artificial intelligence shift the future of work.
Based on extensive labor market demand analysis, the Kapor Foundation seeks to increase Black, Latine, and Native job placements in durable, emerging tech career paths such as cyber security and software engineering with an eye towards intersections with artificial intelligence.
In response to this, today, the Kapor Foundation’s Tech Pathways Initiative is announcing funding commitments across an innovative set of partner organizations advancing Black, Latino, Native, and other underrepresented talent across our focal ecosystems of Oakland, California, Atlanta, Georgia, and Detroit, Michigan.
A significant talent gap exists in the US cybersecurity job market with an estimated 750K roles unfilled and demand growing exponentially as systems become automated. The field’s median salary of $117,058 is largely earned among white males, with only 24% of cyber workers identifying as women, 9% as Black, and 4% as Latino Since entry-level cybersecurity roles are accessible to talent without a bachelor’s degree, alternative education programs are uniquely positioned to help quickly bridge this gap.
NPower creates free, accelerated pathways to digital careers for underserved young adults (ages 18–26) and military veterans. NPower and the Kapor Foundation will partner on a Cyber Career Accelerator that will upskill and elevate women of color in Oakland and Detroit through hands-on lab work, wraparound support, career coaching, mentoring, and job placement services. NPower programs have a proven 80% job placement rate into roles such as cybersecurity analyst, info security risk analyst, and network administrator.
Read more about the announcement from Kapor Center here
From Trailer Park to App Development | NPower Michigan Alum Dezmond Blair | Detroit Free Press
Carol Cain of the Detroit Free Press interviewed Dezmond Blair, Fall 2022 alum from NPower Michigan, about his journey from growing up in a trailer park and getting his first computer at age 12 by building it from spare parts to graduating from the Tech Fundamentals program at age 21 and getting into the Apple Developer Academy.
Growing up was definitely not easy as both his parents had him very young as high school dropouts. They both worked very hard to raise Dezmond and his brother, but they bounced around a few mobile home parks along the way.
““I struggled with my own identity a long time. I never really knew what I’d like to do growing up and even teachers told me to ‘be realistic’ when I talked about my future.”
He knew he wanted to pursue a degree, but he couldn’t afford his bachelor’s. So after getting an associate’s in computer programming, Dezmond found NPower to supplement his training. Through the Tech Fundamentals program, he not only completed 3 CompTIA Certifications, but he also completed Google Project Management Certificate and practiced app coding. In fact, one of the projects Dezmond had developed is an app that helps Alzheimer’s patients remember their families by mimicking TikTok’s scrolling UI and pairing pictures and videos of loved ones with names and music that can trigger memories. So naturally, his next step was entering the Apple Developer Academy and a month-long iOS bootcamp so he can further develop his burgeoning portfolio of work.
“What I love about NPower is that it’s great for connecting with others. NPower is the only reason that I got into the Apple Developer Academy, especially as the recruiter was also an NPower alum! I’m looking forward to hopefully working at Apple as I go through the academy and bootcamp.”
The leading free tech training nonprofit, NPower Michigan, has announced it received a $250,000 2-Year grant from Rocket Community Fund that will provide free tech training to young adults and veterans from under-resourced communities in and around Detroit.
The grant from the Rocket Community Fund will support two NPower Michigan programs: the free, flagship NPower Tech Fundamentals job training program and a new Community Help Desk to assist Detroiters with digital literacy and access.
Myka Burley, Program Manager of Rocket Community Fund, has announced the news of the $250k grant at the Fall 2022 Tech Fundamentals Graduation Ceremony
Laura Grannemann, Executive Director of the Rocket Community Fund, said NPower Michigan was given the grant because of the nonprofit’s steadfast leadership and consistent track record of supporting veterans and young adults.
“Digital connectivity is a critical part of today’s world,” said Grannemann. “Too many Michigan residents are caught in the digital divide, excluding them from opportunities for education, employment, and community. Every family deserves access to the internet and digital resources, and this grant to NPower Michigan is an important step towards that goal.”
The Rocket Community Fund has invested $2.8 million in partnerships to support Connect 313, an effort aimed at closing the digital divide in Detroit. NPower Michigan is actively involved with Connect 313, with representatives serving as Vice Chairs and members of the group’s community-led committees.
Under the grant, NPower Michigan will provide technical skills training, professional development, and job placement to veterans from under-resourced communities, their spouses and young adult Detroiters. The nonprofit has run the program in Detroit since 2020.
José Reyes, Executive Director of NPower Michigan, said the Detroit region is full of IT and tech jobs that are going unfilled because of the lack of digital access.
Jose Reyes, Executive Director of NPower Michigan
“IT occupations grew by 12 percent and are expected to grow by another 4 percent this year,” said Reyes. “We are in a unique position as an alternative pathway for young people to enter the tech job market. And with over 50,000 tech jobs in Detroit as of 2022 according to CompTIA, we at NPower are more than capable of training Detroit youth for future success in the tech world to fill those jobs.”
The Detroit Regional Chamber reported in their State of Education that, in Detroit, 53 percent of high school grads are deferring enrollment in postsecondary education. Consequently, this is leading to an ever-widening talent gap.
Trainees that graduate from NPower Michigan report an average starting salary of $36,164, representing a 234 percent increase over pre-program income.
Community Helpdesk
NPower Michigan is collaborating with Human-I-T on the design and implementation of a Community Help Desk and Hotline for Detroit residents having difficulty connecting with the digital community. The goal of the Community Helpdesk is to address the digital divide throughout Detroit and ensure that all residents have the digital expertise needed to access the internet with their devices. NPower alumni will support the program as Helpdesk Agents, utilizing their training with hands-on applications and problem solving.
A portion of the Rocket Community Fund will provide the training and free community digital support to residents throughout Detroit.
