Technology education changes lives.

In June, Stephen Fishburn, owner of Get Well Cities, and I officially launched Esperas. Esperas is a 12-month technology training internship for men and women exiting homelessness. In 12 months, Esperas trains interns for careers as full-stack web developers and prepares them for living-wage positions in the local tech industry.

Prior to taking on my role with Esperas, I worked as an Employment Specialist for Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. My job was to provide case management to graduates of the men’s recovery program and help them secure employment or pursue higher education. It was about economic outcomes. The job gave me a front row seat to see men that had worked hard to address difficult personal issues and restored relationships with their loved ones also be able to move into housing of their own and gain independence. At the mission, we celebrated those clients and their achievements. However, we often knew that the outcomes could be better. When I left, the average starting-wage of a UGM client’s first job after finishing the recovery program was $14.42. In King County, that is $2 an hour less than what’s considered a livable wage for a single adult without kids. At that rate, without an opportunity to advance, former clients struggle to escape poverty and become systems-independent.

Core to Esperas’ program is the belief that men and women experiencing homelessness are capable of obtaining highly regarded skills and advancing to living-wage outcomes. It’s often the financial expense and time commitment of education, not the capability of the people, that hold those in poverty back from pursuing the outcomes they desire. Esperas supports its interns by making a computer science education accessible, given the constraints of their economic circumstances.

Shane, Jeremy, and Alaina are the first three Esperas interns. Prior to joining Esperas, Shane was planning to take the long route to the same outcome. Knowing that he would have to work full-time to support himself while going to school, Shane was prepared to take a three or four year path to a two-year degree, dip his feet into the industry, and continue towards a four-year degree. Prior to his participation in Esperas, Jeremy aspired to a programming career as well. And Alaina, though not sure of what path she would take, has known that her future career would be one that would draw on her creativity and intelligence.

Ability has always been in these people and is in thousands of others that are walking a path similar to the paths that Shane, Jeremy, and Alaina took. To these three, Esperas is just a quicker way of actualizing their potential. But to the greater community, Esperas is a proof of the potential that our interns have known all along. Writing code is difficult. Given what members of the community typically think of people living in tents, panhandling, and using drugs in the open, it’s not generally expected that those same people could make a dramatic transition into an industry that requires hard work, determination, and technical aptitude. Esperas proves it’s possible.  

Esperas sources its interns from long-term recovery programs that have helped them overcome personal problems and prepare for career readiness. Then, over the course of a few months, interns are introduced to technology concepts and acclimated to soft skills like managing deadlines, working in teams, and communicating effectively before moving on to more intensive technology training. When interns are finished with their training, they are career-ready. At that point, interns work with Esperas to land interviews and go to work for tech employers in the Puget Sound region as contract employees. Proceeds from employment contracts help Esperas fund each subsequent cohort of interns. Interns pay their training forward by making two year commitments to Esperas, in which time they earn living-wages and help another round of people actualize their same potential. Esperas will launch its next cohort, with twelve available spots, in April of 2017.

You can follow Shane, Jeremy, and Alaina’s outcomes, as well as follow the next cohort, or learn more by visiting www.esperas.org.