Per Scholas

Per Scholas
Name	Per Scholas
Formation	1995
Founders	Pablo Casal, Janet Ruane
Type	Nonprofit organization
Headquarters	Bronx, New York
Region served	United States
Focus	Workforce development, IT training, career pathways

Per Scholas is a nonprofit workforce development organization providing tuition-free technology training and career pathways for adults. Founded in 1995 in the Bronx, New York, it operates training centers across multiple U.S. cities offering programs in information technology, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and software engineering. Per Scholas partners with corporations, community colleges, philanthropic foundations, and municipal agencies to align curricula with labor market demand and to place graduates into entry-level and mid-level technology roles.

History

Per Scholas was established in 1995 amid urban revitalization initiatives in the Bronx, drawing inspiration from workforce programs associated with Economic Development Corporation (New York City), community-based organizations such as Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, and national employment efforts like AmeriCorps. Early development involved collaborations with local New York City Housing Authority communities, regional philanthropies including Ford Foundation and Carnegie Corporation of New York, and corporate partners similar to IBM and Microsoft. Through the 2000s and 2010s, Per Scholas expanded to metropolitan areas including Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C.. Expansion coincided with federal workforce initiatives under administrations including Clinton administration and Obama administration and with private sector demand driven by companies such as Amazon, Google, AT&T, and JP Morgan Chase. The organization scaled operations alongside trends in technology workforce development parallel to entities like General Assembly and Year Up.

Mission and Programs

Per Scholas states a mission focused on economic mobility by providing tuition-free technical training and career support, working with stakeholders such as Chambers of Commerce (e.g., New York Chamber of Commerce), municipal workforce boards like New York City Workforce1, and national funders such as Bloomberg Philanthropies and Gates Foundation. Programs include network engineering, help desk support, cybersecurity fundamentals, cloud infrastructure with providers like Amazon Web Services, and software engineering paths often aligned to employer needs at firms including Bank of America, Deloitte, Accenture, and CVS Health. In addition to technical classes, Per Scholas offers career services that engage hiring partners such as LinkedIn, Indeed, Visa Inc., and Comcast to facilitate job placement and apprentice-style opportunities akin to ApprenticeshipUSA models.

Curriculum and Training Model

Curricula emphasize hands-on labs, industry certification preparation (e.g., CompTIA, CCNA, AWS Certified Solutions Architect), and soft-skill development informed by corporate competency frameworks from companies like Microsoft and Oracle. Training cycles mirror accelerated models used by organizations such as Flatiron School and Coding Dojo, combining instructor-led sessions, project-based learning, and employer-vetted assessments. Per Scholas integrates case studies drawn from enterprises including Verizon Communications and Ernst & Young and uses learning management approaches similar to Khan Academy for supplemental practice. The model includes wraparound supports—transportation assistance, childcare coordination referencing services like Head Start programs, and connections to public benefits administered by agencies like HHS—to reduce barriers for adult learners.

Partnerships and Funding

Per Scholas funds operations through a mix of corporate partnerships, philanthropic grants, government contracts, and earned revenue from employer hiring fees. Major corporate partners and funders have included Google.org, JP Morgan Chase Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Verizon Foundation, and Walmart Foundation. Government collaborations have involved city and state workforce development offices, workforce boards like Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership, and federal programs administered by DOL. Per Scholas partners with higher education institutions, community colleges such as Cuyahoga Community College and technology firms including Salesforce for curriculum alignment, apprenticeship pipelines, and employer advisory councils featuring representatives from IBM, Cisco Systems, and Accenture.

Impact and Outcomes

Per Scholas reports outcomes including graduation rates, certification attainment, and job placement in roles at companies like Cognizant, Capgemini, Goldman Sachs, and Northrop Grumman. Independent evaluations by workforce research groups and think tanks such as Urban Institute, Brookings Institution, and National Skills Coalition have examined Per Scholas’s contributions to income mobility, retention, and employer talent pipelines. Alumni have transitioned into positions across sectors including healthcare IT with Cerner Corporation, financial services technology at Wells Fargo, public sector IT at agencies like Internal Revenue Service, and tech services at firms like Infosys. The organization tracks metrics comparable to those used by NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers) and workforce data initiatives such as Burning Glass Technologies.

Criticism and Challenges

Per Scholas faces critiques and operational challenges common to nonprofit training providers, including scaling while maintaining quality, aligning rapidly with evolving technologies from vendors like Google and Amazon Web Services, and securing sustainable funding amid shifts in philanthropy exemplified by changes in priorities at Ford Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Evaluators have flagged issues including variable job retention rates over time, geographic disparities in labor market absorption akin to patterns seen in Rust Belt versus Silicon Valley regions, and competition for employer partnerships with for-profit bootcamps such as Hack Reactor and nonprofit peers like Year Up. Additional challenges include measuring long-term career progression relative to benchmarks used by DOC and integrating credentialing frameworks endorsed by Credential Engine.

Category:Non-profit organizations based in the United States