INDIANAPOLIS — (March 14, 2023) — Equipped with a $300,000 grant from the Indianapolis African American Quality of Life Initiative (IAAQLI), TechPoint, InnoPower and Sagamore Institute are seeking central Indiana companies to offer tech-related adult apprenticeship opportunities to low-income, central Indiana Black men and women.
“We are thrilled to have received this support, but now we need companies to step up and take advantage of a game-changing opportunity for everyone involved,” said TechPoint Senior Vice President, Talent, Strategy, and Partnerships Dennis Trinkle. “We see adult apprenticeship as the most effective way to deploy these funds toward lifelong, meaningful careers. We are creating a program that pairs companies and apprentices and expect to have so much demand from both audiences that we’ll need more funders to step forward.”
InnoPower Founder and CEO Emil Ekiyor described the two-year pilot program as “groundbreaking” for Indiana’s Black community. InnoPower is a community development organization that works to accelerate upward mobility opportunities for Black Hoosiers.
“Within our community are countless people with the ability to succeed in tech careers, but many of them don’t have the resources or relationships to access these,” Ekiyor said. “Companies that participate in this program are opening the door to opportunities that can create generational change while helping to fill some of their most-needed roles right away and for years to come. Companies must have some skin in the development process for Black Hoosiers.”
To learn more or sign up for the program, companies should contact Malik Laffoon with TechPoint at this link. Prospective apprentices should request more information here.
Under an adult apprenticeship program, companies hire apprentices and provide on-the-job training and educational opportunities to help them enter into and grow their tech careers. Typically, the program would cost $12,000 per person for employers. IAAQLI funding will subsidize half of that cost. Employers may be eligible for an additional $5,000 per person subsidy through the Indiana Employer Training Grants program.
Teresa Lubbers, Sagamore Institute president, which serves as InnoPower’s fiscal agent and operating partner, said the state’s current economic climate demands creative solutions. For every tech job filled today, there are 11 more open. Lowering the training cost and making more employers aware of this talent pool should make the program more attractive, she said.
“Apprenticeships are a long-proven strategy to build a pipeline of talent and the return on investment has a huge ripple effect with each success inspiring more people to participate,” Lubbers said. “Having to invest in training can make employers hesitate. By reducing some of the risk we can get more employers involved and prove the talent in central Indiana’s Black community.”
The adult apprenticeship program is the first action step related to InnoPower’s work with TechPoint’s Mission41K effort. TechPoint, the industry-led growth initiative for Indiana’s digital innovation economy and overall tech ecosystem, launched the mission last year. It seeks to inclusively add 41,000 new tech workers to the state by 2030 by expanding traditional and developing new pathways for Hoosiers to enter the tech sector. It prioritizes skills-based hiring, provides more inclusive pathways into tech roles for significantly more people, and puts a focus on apprenticeships as a viable path to a successful and lucrative career in tech.
TechPoint launched Mission41K last year and has been working with partners throughout the state as it seeks to overcome population decreases, Baby Boomer retirements and deficits in young tech talent retention in a multi-pronged approach designed to bring more people from underrepresented demographics – people of color and women – in to the rapidly growing tech sector.
The IAAQLI is a comprehensive effort funded by a $100 million Lilly Endowment, Inc. grant to build collaborations and partnerships to elevate the quality of life of African Americans in Indianapolis/Marion County.
Tech jobs offer high salaries, stability and strong advancement pathways. Despite recent efforts to increase diversity throughout the industry, tech in Indiana and throughout the U.S. remains predominantly white and male. For example, research shows Black workers comprise just seven percent of the Indiana tech workforce, while making up 10 percent of the overall Indiana workforce. Only 5 percent of the software developers in Central Indiana are Black.
Indiana’s tech workforce has grown by 16.3 percent over the past decade, a 60 percent faster growth rate than seen across other sectors. More than 184,000 Hoosiers now work in tech and tech-enabled roles, filling one out of every 10 jobs in Indiana. For every 10,000 new tech workers added to the Indiana workforce, $698 million in new annual wages are generated and $56.9 million in state and local tax revenues are gained, per TechPoint’s 2023 Workforce Report.
About TechPoint: TechPoint is the industry-led growth initiative for Indiana’s digital innovation economy and overall tech ecosystem. The team is focused on working with public, private and industry partners to expand tech talent pipeline, enhance resource connectivity for enterprise organizations and startups alike, and elevate the industry by activating the community and amplifying stories of success. For more information, please visit www.techpoint.org.
About InnoPower: InnoPower is a 501(c)(3) community development organization that works with communities and stakeholders to create capacity-building opportunities for underrepresented ecosystems, businesses and professionals in education, workforce development and entrepreneurship. It leverages seed-stage impact investing to drive innovation and accelerate economic productivity in Black communities in Indiana and Sub-Saharan Africa. InnoPower LLC also invests in businesses and real estate that helps generate wealth in and for Black Communities. For more information, please visit https://InnoPowerindy.com/.
About Sagamore Institute: Sagamore Institute is an action-oriented think tank that builds and implements solutions to society’s biggest problems. Unlike other think tanks that pay more attention to policy and its impact on politics, Sagamore combines research with entrepreneurial innovations and impact investing to advance practical and sustainable solutions. What makes Sagamore unique is its focus on constructive action in support of individual prosperity and community renewal. Visit www.SagamoreInstitute.org.
About the Indianapolis African American Quality of Life Initiative: The National Urban League, the Indianapolis Urban League and the African American Coalition of Indianapolis are the partner organizations implementing the Indianapolis African American Quality of Life Initiative (IAAQLI.) Funded through a $100 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, the IAAQLI is mobilizing African American resources while also building collaborations and partnerships to elevate the quality of life of African Americans in Indianapolis/Marion County.
