Starting the year off grateful and joyful for our LaunchCode community!

Let’s celebrate all the great work we’ve accomplished together. In 2021, we…

1. 1. Expanded to Philadelphia and welcomed our first class of 107 students. 🔔
   2. Started working in Missouri prisons to equip incarcerated individuals with job-focused digital skills to prepare people for life after release. 
   3. Educated over 1,500 people across all of our tech training programs — and they didn’t pay a DIME!  for FREE!
   4. Diversified the tech field by enrolling people of all backgrounds and experiences. Overall, our 2021 classrooms represented 56% women, 3% non-binary folx, 58% people from low-income households, 51% people of color, and 46% people without 4-year degrees.
   5. Graduated 100% of learners in from our Microsoft Specialized Training CodeCamp for federally-cleared talent.
   6. Reached 2,777 overall careers launched by placing 342 LaunchCoders directly into tech jobs and apprenticeships this year alone! 💼 💻
   7. Saw an average starting salary greater than $65,000 for LaunchCoders entering full-time roles! 
   8. Added new curriculum to our course offerings. ✨
      
      “It has been exciting to see LaunchCode’s education programs evolve over time and go from an intro to computer science course to curriculum developed in-house. Through the launch of additional specialized skill tracks, we have been able to pilot other curriculum across all of our core programs, helping push our community to expand access to multiple tech pathways. In 2021, we piloted our first Product Management curriculum. We look forward to continuing to grow our education programs and increase access to multiple tech pathways in 2022."         
      
      — Jessi Wilcox, LaunchCode’s VP of Impact  
      
      
      
   9. Engaged over 100 community volunteers through our Liftoff Career Readiness Program and other opportunities! 🙌
   10. Earned a spot as an honoree for the 2020 Women In The Workplace: Employment Scorecard Initiative. 👭
   11. Launched a new course in Kansas City to help more women and non-binary aspiring technologists enter the industry!
       
       
       
       "For me, 2021 will always be the year that I made the biggest accomplishment of my life so far... It went by so fast, and I will surely miss this community, but thank you LaunchCode for helping me start the next chapter!”
                 — Jessica Zager, Kansas City LC101 2021 grad
       
       
   12. Joined the 2021 Forward Through Ferguson Racial Equity Roundtable. 
   13. Helped people in our community start new careers after losing their jobs at the onset of COVID-19 Pandemic.
       
        Words of wisdom from Ashley, who lost her job in the pandemic:
       “If you’re on the fence in any way about whether to journey into tech, bet on yourself. There’s a team at LaunchCode and your future tech job that will bet on you too, and they’re all waiting on you to take that leap! You’re never too old or too young or too anything to learn new things. Just get to it!" 
       
   14. Served veterans and their family members in our military-focused education programs helping bridge military experience to long-term tech careers.
   15. Placed LaunchCoders into tech roles ranked as some of the most competitive careers in the US, like Web Developer and Database/Systems Administrator roles.
   16. Broke ground on our $5 million building renovation for our headquarters in St. Louis - The Techforce Center. 🔨 
   17. Worked with over 130 company partners ranging from small start-ups to Fortune 50 companies who hired LaunchCoders for full-time tech positions. 
   18. Hosted the Inaugural Shift Tech Transformation Summit and engaged in some really thoughtful conversations with community partners.
       
       

       “It is liberating to open up the floodgates of hiring and recruiting and attract people from all walks of life - people who were baristas before, yoga instructors, forklift drivers, teachers, you name it - and bring them into our environment. It helps give our teams insight into the needs and motivations of our customers."

       — Nick Bimpasis from World Wide Technology and 2021 Shift Summit Speaker
       on “Executing Effective Apprenticeships through Mentoring”
       
       

   19. Collaborated on an expansive study of our program’s overall impact and effectiveness with the Washington University Social Policy Institute. 📊
   20. Engaged 263 high school students across 11 schools in St. Louis by equipping their teachers with coding skills and curriculum through the LCHS Program.
   21. Created the Student Assistance Fund with the help of Henrose Cares to enable more students to overcome unforeseen life challenges and go on to graduate from class. 

This work and impact would not be possible without the generous support of our philanthropic partners. Thank you for believing in our mission and helping make a positive difference in our community during 2021.  We are truly grateful and excited to see what we can accomplish together in 2022!

To join in these efforts:

Thanks to these key partners:

American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation  |  Ameren  |  AT&T  |  Citi   

Hunter Engineering  |  Interco Charitable Trust  |  NISA Investment Advisors  

SkillBuilders Fund  |  John W. & Effie E. Speas Memorial Trust, Bank of America, Trustee   

Trio Foundation of St. Louis  |  U.S. Bank Foundation  |  Verizon

 World Wide Technology