"After a year of being out of school, I felt lost, hopeless, and had low self-esteem. I needed a change in my life to help me refocus and get back on track with my goals. When I heard about the ITWorks program, and what they were doing for young adults in similar positions, I knew this was the opportunity I was waiting for to change my life around."

--Emilia's ITWorks Philadelphia graduation speech eloquently describes the impacts of ITWorks. 

ABOUT ITWORKS

ITWorks, a program of Tech Impact (formerly NPower Pennsylvania and NPower Delaware), is a free 16-week technology training program for unemployed and underemployed urban young adults, ages 18 to 25, which prepares them for an entry-level IT job and provides them with a pathway to a career in technology.  Over 16 weeks, students earn a professional IT certification and are placed into tech-related internships at area corporations and nonprofits.  Each student receives corporate-class career guidance, interview training, and connections to dozens of potential employers.

THE NEED

The Annie E. Casey November 2012 publication, “Youth and Work: Restoring Teen and Young Adult Connections to Opportunity” stated that only about half of young people ages 16 to 24 held jobs in 2011.  Overall, 6.5 million people ages 16 to 24 are both out of school and out of work. 

In addition, a recent survey from Rutgers University, "Left Out. Forgotten? Recent High School Graduates and the Great Recession" found that only 27% of recent high school graduates, who are not enrolled in college full-time nor have a college degree, are working full-time jobs.

Research demonstrates a positive return on investment for programs that advance academic, social and career skills.

JobRaising CHALLENGE

We want this powerful program to be accessible for implementation by ANY nonprofit or community organization, ANYWHERE!

Funding received from the Job Raising Challenge would be used to create a web portal that holds all the curriculum and administrative materials that are needed to run the Tech Impact ITWorks program.  

We will develop materials, offered at no cost, which would enable other schools, nonprofits, and community organizations across the country and the world to adopt the ITWorks program for implementation in their community.  

Visit our website: www.itworks.org

Read our Huffington Post blog posts: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tech-impact/