Alexander Cruz-Marrero, 22, is exactly the type of student that Tech Foundry in Springfield guides the jobs well paid in the sector of local information technology.
“My experience is not very wide,” he said. “I worked out of a higher school and now I am out of work. Finding Foundry Technology has been beneficial because I didn’t know what to do for a long time.”
Cruz-Marrero said he has been playing with computers all his life, and although he has so far been self-taught, the formal education he is receiving now is the only way to make his dream of working in cybersecurity.
“At first, I was not very confident, because this is my personality, but since I joined the program, I have been confident,” he said. “I feel like I will have a job that allows me to keep my family and my family, and that’s all I wanted.”
On the fifth floor of an office building on a block of the Town Hall, more than a dozen students learn in front of computers with an instructor. They are registered in the Foundry Tech staff training program.
“Our mission is to connect low revenue to moderate with digital skills and professional development training so that they can access economic mobility and create prosperous communities,” said Tricia Canavan, executive director of the organization.
The non -profit organization has graduated about 540 students from its 18 -week program. Canavan said that more than 70% of students get a job with an average salary of more than $ 40,000, compared to $ 25,000 they would get if they did not have training and seek their own employment.
Most students come from one of the state access cities, where the general levels of income and education are low, according to Canavan. More than 60% of students are colored people.
Christin Brown, 33, is a former Early Childhood Education Assistant with special needs. He studied at Tech Foundry since February, with the aim of becoming a network engineer.
Until Tech Foundry found, the only labor training programs he found cost $ 1,000 and said he couldn’t afford it. The training you receive freely is worth $ 13,000.
“Tech Foundry has changed my life and, thanks to this, I can get a job and help my friends and family to have a basic level of you, because of the way the world passes,” he said.
From the Hollyake and Springfield campus, Tech Foundry teaches everything, from the basics of how to operate a “mouse” and connect to the Internet, to work on a help table and manage a computer network.
Part of the Foundry Tech funding comes from corporate donations, such as a $ 275,000 grant recently received from the Bank Foundation Bank.
“The Tech Foundry application convinced us, as its students are diverse and the organization is in an area neglected by the philanthropic community,” said Joel Jaquez, director of programs at the M&T Balefic Foundation. “In terms of resources, the lagoons are observed between the east and west of Massachusetts.”
The grant is helping the non -profit group to hire additional coaches and strengthen an emergency fund that financially helps students at difficult times outside the classroom.
“This will allow us to offer our students styling if they find some obstacle to complete their studies. Financial emergencies can cause someone to leave the program. It will also allow us to assure us that we have the necessary staff,” said Canavan.
Translated by Damaris Pérez Pizarro