What is Ascender Academy?

Ascender Academy is a nonprofit IT training program that uses a rapid training model to teach participants valuable software development, soft skills and life skills. We then assist graduates with job placement. We’re planning to launch our first training class in the fall of 2015, so in this blog, we wanted to introduce ourselves and tell you a little about who we are.

What makes Ascender Academy different?

You may have heard of “coding bootcamps,” which are essentially short-term, intensive software development programs, intended to teach individuals IT skills to prepare for a quality job. The goal for attendees is to acquire coding skills – in a shorter time frame than a technical school – to help get a job in the growing IT industry.

Ascender subscribes to that objective, but we’re also different from most coding bootcamps in a few important ways.

• Ascender Academy tuition is free for qualified individuals, some of whom traditional IT schooling may be out of reach.
• We offer flexible scheduling programs, making our program a great fit for single parents or those who rely on a regular income to make ends meet.
• We partner with local corporations to hire Ascender Academy graduates.
• In addition to an excellent software development curriculum, we teach corporate soft skills and life skills. The soft skills component focuses on understanding and accepting a corporation’s culture, vision and values. Life skills are focus on leadership, values, stress management, financial stability and discovering your purpose. These components are included to help our graduates succeed beyond the classroom.

Why Greater Milwaukee?

Greater Milwaukee is the perfect place to launch Ascender Academy for two main reasons:

1. There are a lot of fantastic corporations that call Greater Milwaukee home or have locations directly in the city, offering a wide range of IT-related job opportunities in the area. Additionally, Greater Milwaukee has a growing startup scene that makes it an exciting place to start a career in tech.
2. Greater Milwaukee faces many challenges around race, poverty and education.
   • 4 out of 5 children in the city of Milwaukee live in poverty
   • Milwaukee has the largest achievement gap between blacks and whites in the country
   • Milwaukee is also the most segregated city in the country

We believe we can help address those challenges by providing individuals access to education that will lead to quality careers, family stability and healthier communities. Ascender Academy focuses on the IT industry because it is an in-demand and rapidly growing field, and there is a shortage of qualified workers to fill an increasing number of jobs.

Why “Ascender”?

We named our IT program “Ascender Academy” because we want to help our graduates ascend to a higher level of success in their personal lives, families and their careers through our program. We view our program as a gateway, giving individuals the opportunity to gain a specialized education and begin a career in a growing and in-demand industry—ultimately leading to a brighter future for those who may currently be unemployed, underemployed, struggling single parents, or at-risk youth.

Learn more or get involved

Ascender Academy is in startup phase right now, and we’re planning to launch our first training class in fall 2015. If you want to learn more about becoming an Ascender student, or would like to get involved as a donor, hiring partner or volunteer, please contact us today!