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At Lever Fund, we are proud to be part of a national family of incredibly capable poverty-fighting organizations. Hailing from New York City, the Bay Area, Washington D.C., Chicago, the Twin Cities, and Memphis, each of us utilizes a metrics approach pioneered by Robin Hood more than thirty years ago.

According to a 2017 report from the Greater Washington Partnership, the Washington region has 35,000 vacant digital tech jobs. They project that this gap will only widen as the years and decades go on. At the same time, the region has almost half a million people living in poverty―including tens of thousands of children―and that number is expected to grow in the coming years. Poverty today is robbing us of the workers that we will depend on tomorrow. But that doesn’t have to be the case.

Entrepreneurship is the hook, college, or a postsecondary plan, is the goal for our program. The program is all project based and hands on, it’s  a great way to learn. Developing the entrepreneurial mindset is essential for students’ educational and career futures. They learn to problem-solve, to collaborate. And they learn to fail, and fail again, and to learn from that and try again. This resilience matters for high school, for college, for their eventual careers. For the rest of their lives, really.

Our biggest challenge AND opportunity is getting the word out about our programs here in the National Capital region. We do pretty well with recruiting, but we know there is a lot more untapped talent right here.

I have always understood the value having the right job opportunity at the right time. In high school, I worked in a department store. I learned how to provide good customer service, how to pay attention to details, and the importance of commitment and showing up every day when I was scheduled to work. Nothing is more important than opening the door to opportunity to our young people.

In 2013, the day before I met Ann Marie Habershaw for the first time, I was laid off from my job at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. It was a bump in my career path that, at the time, felt like a disaster. As if by fate, she showed up to give me a new direction. And not just me, but, over time, that first coffee would lead to new career opportunities for hundreds of our neighbors who lack the privilege and resources that I have enjoyed.

What changed life forever for my parents and, by extension for me, was when they got the opportunity to live and study in the United States. I would not be here without American education and opportunity. This country got it right with my family but it does not get it right with enough families. I have always been committed to changing that fact.

Per Scholas fits squarely into the Lever Fund’s Jobs of Tomorrow parameters. The organization provides employment training, placement and job retention services in six U.S. cities. The D.C. office opened in Silver Spring MD in 2014. The Lever Fund’s support will pay for instruction tailored to a wide range of tech occupations that pay $30,000-$50,000 annually at the entry level.

On July 9, the board unanimously elected Tim Lee as chair. Here, he shares his vision and passion for our work.

Lever Fund board member Connie K. N. Chang is an advisor, consultant, and public speaker for clients in government, academia, and the private sector, and the co-owner of Graphicacy, a creative analytic design firm.