Milwaukee’s challenges

In late August 2015, Milwaukee surpassed 100 homicides for the year, with four months remaining, a statistic even more unsettling when compared to 2014’s 86 homicides for the entire year. Here are a few more statistics when looking at Milwaukee and how it compares to the rest of the country:

• 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 the most segregated city in the country

Ascender’s mission

So what’s the solution? We believe the solution is a multi-pronged approach that involves many people, groups and organizations, but we feel we can play an important part. At Ascender Academy, we feel that access to quality education can help lift families out of poverty and create more positive communities.

When you look at the statistics above, you might assume that there is a lack of quality jobs, leading to widespread poverty. However, there are many industries – including the IT/tech industry – with available jobs but not enough qualified people to fill them. That’s why our mission is to make that quality career training available to individuals who might not otherwise have access to it, so they can move into higher paying, fulfilling careers that will benefit their families. Beyond providing IT/tech training, our program also provides corporate and life skills training, to help our graduates succeed in their future careers.

In fact, we want to help individuals and families all over the Greater Milwaukee area who may be struggling due to unemployment or underemployment, and are in need of opportunities to advance toward a better career.

How you can help

Ascender Academy is brand new, and we’re aiming to launch our first training course in Fall 2015. To help make that a reality – and ensure that our students pay no tuition and have quality computers and supplies – we are currently raising funds.

If you believe in our mission to help the city of Milwaukee – and the entire Greater Milwaukee area – please consider donating what you can, even if it’s just a little. Your support will make a huge difference to our students and the community.

Our fundraising goals

We’re planning to launch officially in Fall 2015, with our first training class. To make that happen, we need some help. In order to provide our quality IT training courses to students at little or no cost, we’re currently raising money for:

• Tuition for our first class of students
• Laptops computers for each student to use in class, plus other necessary supplies
• Other essential expenses to Ascender off the ground

Hear more about our funding goals and all the great things we want to do for the Milwaukee community in this video from our founder, Brian.

How you can help

If you believe in our mission as much as we do and want to support the Milwaukee community and those in need of a little help toward a brighter future, we’d love to have your support.

Right now, we are raising money through a GoFundMe campaign, and would be extremely grateful if you were able to make a donation.

Additionally, please share our campaign with your friends, colleagues and loved ones who you think would be interested in our cause—let’s join together to support Milwaukee. Thank you for your support!

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!