3M Grant Aims to Boost Latinx Tech Careers
- A $3 million grant aims to expand tech training and job placement programs for Madison's Latinx community. - The funding will support partnerships, apprenticeships, and curriculum development targeting dozens to hundreds of residents. - Organizers say the grant could significantly increase local diversity in tech and career mobility (patch.com).
Centro Hispano of Dane County said on April 17 it had secured nearly $3 million to build a tech hub for Madison’s Latinx community. (wispolitics.com) The money is coming from Ascendium Education Group, a Madison-based education and workforce philanthropy focused on learners from low-income backgrounds. Centro said the hub will expand digital literacy, workforce training, entrepreneurship and leadership programs. (ascendiumeducation.org) (wispolitics.com) Centro said the project will roll out in three phases: community research, expansion of its in-house training programs, and a bilingual online learning platform. WKOW reported the initiative is called the Centro Tech Hub. (wispolitics.com) (wkow.com) The grant lands as Latino workers remain underrepresented in tech jobs nationally. UnidosUS, citing Pew Research Center data, said Hispanic workers held 17% of all jobs but 8% of STEM jobs. (unidosus.org) That gap has been a live issue in Wisconsin’s capital, where Madison’s tech sector has kept growing around health tech, software and university-linked startups. New training pipelines can matter more in that kind of market because employers often hire through credentials, internships and local networks. (madisoncommons.org) (careers.wisc.edu) Centro is not starting from zero. The nonprofit says it has a 40-year history in Dane County and now serves more than 7,500 people each year with more than 20,000 hours of programming. (wispolitics.com) (madison365.com) Part of the model is likely to lean on apprenticeships, which Wisconsin describes as “earn while you learn” programs that combine paid job training with classroom instruction. That structure can lower the upfront cost of entering tech for workers who cannot afford to stop earning. (dwd.wisconsin.gov) Centro has already been part of earlier tech-equity efforts. UnidosUS said its affiliate in Madison participated in a Latinx in Tech program that paired Google Career Certificates with a 12-module professional skills curriculum. (unidosus.org) The next test is execution: building the hub, lining up employer partners and turning training into placements. If Centro can do that at scale, the April 17 grant will be remembered less as a donation than as a hiring pipeline. (wispolitics.com)
