A nonprofit led by Square co-founder and Jim McKelvey is bringing its software development training and job placement services to D.C.
LaunchCode provides programming classes primarily to individuals from underrepresented and low-income backgrounds. It aims to diversify the tech workforce and provide opportunities to a group of individuals who would not normally have a pathway to a tech career.
The program’s first project in the D.C. area, starting in October, is a customized data science training class at Fort Meade in Maryland that will train about 40 non-commissioned officers to work in tech for Booz Allen Hamilton.
“We partnered with Booz Allen for a specific pipeline of talent, to train people transitioning out of the military, so they’re not thinking, ‘Where do I go?’ They will have learned skills at the end of their service and can transition into a tech job afterwards,” VP of Growth Daniel Fogarty said.
LaunchCode also recently became a registered apprenticeship program in D.C., and says it is in discussions with the Maryland state government and the Arlington/Alexandria Workforce Development Board about bringing the program there.
The company's beginnings stemmed from McKelvey's buildout of the now-massive Square payment app.
In 2011, he and co-founder Jack Dorsey moved Square to San Francisco after not finding enough software development talent in St. Louis. In 2013, McKelvey moved back to St. Louis and founded LaunchCode for the express purpose of attacking the tech talent gap there and in cities like it.
Five years later, the nonprofit is the largest provider of tech talent in the St. Louis area. In all, it’s trained 5,000 people in programming and computer science in four cities, Fogarty said.
Following part-time classroom training, apprenticeship candidates are paid $15-20 per hour by partner employers, working about 90 days. Fogarty said 85 percent of people who start apprenticeships through the program get hired into the job afterward. For example, the program has placed 100 software developers at health tech firm Express Scripts.
Over two-thirds of the individuals who enter LaunchCode programs, which are free to participants, are either unemployed or earn less than $30,000 annually. About 40 percent of participants are people of color and 40 percent are women, according to the company.
LaunchCode is headquartered in St. Louis and currently operates in St. Louis, Kansas City, Tampa Bay and Miami.
