$3M Grant Boosts Latinx Tech Pathways
- A $3 million grant was announced to create training, apprenticeships, and placement programs for Madison's Latinx residents. - The grant totals $3,000,000 and funds partnerships between community groups, colleges, and local employers. - Organizers expect it to increase durable tech employment and diversify Madison’s tech workforce (patch.com).
A Madison nonprofit says it has secured nearly $3 million to build a tech hub for Latinx residents in Dane County and beyond. (madison365.com) Centro announced the commitment from Ascendium Education Group on April 17 at its 2026 Strategic Update at the group’s new headquarters on Madison’s South Side. Centro said the money will fund the Centro Tech Hub. (madison365.com) The project is set up in three phases: community-informed research, expansion of Centro’s in-house training pathways, and a bilingual online learning platform. Centro said the hub will focus on digital literacy, workforce development, entrepreneurship, and leadership opportunities. (wispolitics.com) Ascendium said it funds education and workforce training aimed at learners from low-income backgrounds, and its 2025 philanthropy report said it awarded more than $172 million in grants last year. That gives the Madison project backing from a national nonprofit that already invests heavily in postsecondary training. (ascendiumphilanthropy.org) The timing lines up with a long run of tech-job growth in Greater Madison. The Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce said high-tech employment in the region rose from 18,233 jobs in 2010 to 42,010 in 2022. (madisonbiz.com) That growth has not erased representation gaps. Centro said Latinx residents remain underrepresented in technology and innovation spaces even as Dane County’s Hispanic or Latino population reached 8.2% in the Census Bureau’s 2024 estimate. (wispolitics.com, census.gov) Centro is not starting from scratch on workforce programming. In a City of Madison employment grant application, the organization said it has nearly 40 years of experience serving immigrant and Latinx residents and supports more than 7,000 clients and 3,000 families a year with bilingual and bicultural programs. (cityofmadison.com) The organization has also been part of Madison’s broader education pipeline for Latinx students. A separate Madison365 report this year noted the Sánchez Scholars program, one of the city’s longer-running college-access efforts for Latino youth, marked its 25th anniversary in 2025. (madison365.com) Centro’s executive director, Karen Menéndez Coller, said the grant should help build a future in which Latinx families are “prioritized” and can keep expanding their presence in the local economy. The next test is whether the hub turns training into sustained placements as Madison keeps adding tech jobs. (madison365.com)
