Tech Foundry is a school, a startup, a nonprofit and an employment agency that could help transform Springfield into a tech company hub.
SPRINGFIELD – A school, a startup, a nonprofit and an employment agency that will help transform Springfield into a tech company hub.
That’s the blend of ideas running under Tech Foundry, a nonprofit that will start training its first class of students in July.
Tech Foundry is a new style of education. It’s a nonprofit that teaches high school seniors technical and workplace skills, but its curriculum was developed in partnership with tech companies. The students learn the skills the company would want in an entry-level employee.
Director of Operations Natalie Sacco said the target student is someone graduating high school who is unsure of their next step. Maybe college isn’t the right choice.
Students could choose Tech Foundry’s summer program “instead of a four-year college, which is something that is sort of crammed down everyone’s throats,” she said.
The idea isn’t to shun college, Sacco said, but many tech companies don’t care much about degrees, and the entry-level positions Tech Foundry students will train for can pay up to $40,000 annually. That’s more than many of the inner-city students’ parents make.
“If someone had stopped me (before getting my MBA), maybe I would’ve done something different instead of getting this enormous amount of debt,” Sacco said. “I mean, enormous.”
From the beginning, the idea for Tech Foundry was not just about giving inner-city kids good job opportunities. It’s about that too, but founder Delcie Bean is thinking big picture.
Bean is the CEO of Paragus, I.T., and together with South Hadley High School math teacher Josh Finkel helped start Valley Technical Outreach. Out of that grew the plans for Tech Foundry.
Immediately, they were talking about revitalizing the entire city.
“What (Springfield) needs is something to become — our new identity,” Bean said.
When the city has a ready pool of tech talent trained to fit company needs, larger companies will take note. Other cities don’t have that applicant pool in an industry with high turnover at entry-level positions, so developing those applicants would help Springfield compete with cities like Boston, he said.
Sacco said companies like Google, Amazon and Twitter could start looking to Springfield as a smart spot for back offices. The industry and the city have plenty of room to grow.
“Even if (Tech Foundry) were wildly successful, it’s a small dip in what’s needed,” Bean said.
The startup’s donors seem to agree. Donations have come from all sides; Even the paint and much of the office furniture was donated. The company takes up the entire ninth floor of its building in downtown Springfield, and that space is also donated.
“Every sort of help that we could even think of has shown up,” Sacco said.
Even with the outpouring of help, getting the concept rolling hasn’t been all rosy. Bean said the company received lots of help from sources outside of traditional nonprofit funding. The traditional funding sources didn’t come through as he expected.
Bean figured about $150,000 would come through donations from banks. To date, the company has only received $3,500.
That lack of traditional funding was covered mostly through other sources, such as a private anonymous donor who gave $120,000. It’s a startup that’s also a brand new concept, Bean said, which may have contributed to traditional backers’ wariness.
The untested idea will soon have real metrics of success.
Through its Springfield campus, the UMass School of Education will conduct a study through its urban education research to gauge the effectiveness of Tech Foundry’s teaching.
As the program grows — and its funding requirements rise — Bean hopes the research will yield concrete data to show potential investors Tech Foundry’s success.