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is proud of our 20-year experience as a launchpad for small and emerging businesses all over the world to be noticed and achieve. Marcy Lab School Marcy Lab School is a nonprofit organization located in Brooklyn, New York, which aims to offer the best postsecondary educational experiences to help youngsters into rewarding and fulfilled jobs in the tech industry.

We the donation of $100,000 was made to The Marcy Lab School as a part of our 2020 pledge to support organizations working toward reducing racial inequities.

We talked to The Marcy Lab School's Executive Director Reuben Ogbonna II, about the ways in which the school is able to provide possibilities for Fellows to discover their talents and pursue careers in the field of technology with no four-year college education.

: Marcy Lab is a very new and exciting organization. Why have you decided to establish this non-profit?

Reuben Ogbonna II: After spending 14 years serving students of color--along with my co-founder Maya Bhattacharjee-Marcantonio--in the charter and public school systems, we repeatedly watched as our former students with limitless potential slipped through the cracks of higher education. The story that doesn't often be told about colleges in America is that, every year, thousands of hard-working, highly promising students get accepted to the university of their dreams but not be able to for it or even make it to completion. We were shocked at the widespread failure of "college promises" that left our students as well as their families with financial ruin and with other impossible obstacles.

So in 2019, we formed and manage Marcy Lab out of the belief that our young people of color, and frankly everyone else young adults, should have the opportunity to have a more fair, equitable access to the opportunities and opportunities that used to be only accessible to those who graduated from a 4-year institution. Marcy Lab School Marcy Lab School offers a reimagined post-secondary option that is based on our goal of ensuring that there is always opportunities and mobility for young adults interested in pursuing life-changing careers in tech.

SQSP: This program can be described as a viable alternative to a college education for the students. What is the reason it's important for you to know that The Marcy Lab offers this path to employment?

ROThe difficulties I saw my pupils confront firsthand were one of the biggest hurdles for young learners who are of color. We realized that the postsecondary system in our country was failing to deliver on the promise of college that many young people want in terms of community, encouragement, academic relevance, and the ability to align with not just the prospect of a job, but for a successful career. It's the intentional mix of these factors that make up the foundation of Marcy Lab and are some important factors that provide young people with the confidence to choose the path that isn't traditional.

So to deliver on a fresh promise, we guarantee that our Fellows will be ready to work after our 12 month program. They are prepared with the necessary skills to integrate them into teams that are fast-paced and contribute value from the very first day. Our Fellows gain technical skills from an industry-aligned and informed curriculum that is adaptive and adaptable to ever-changing requirements of the technology industry. And alongside building a strong technical skill set, our Fellows engage with our Leadership & Development curriculum, that focuses on racial identity and gender equality, as well as professional readiness, and the importance of financial literacy. This is done through books by renowned authors such as James Baldwin, Michelle Alexander, Safiya Umoja Noble, and the late Dr. Beverly Tatum.

We're very proud to report that the Marcy Lab School graduates are competing for and securing high-paying jobs typically reserved for college graduates who have attended competitive four-year universities. The impact here is twofold It's not just that our students and their families pushed into positions of secure financial stability, but it indicates the manner that companies are altering their hiring methods to attract, encourage, and keep the non-traditional workforce.

SQSP: Can you tell us more about the effect you've witnessed the Marcy Lab School have on the students who attend the course?

ROEven in the five-year period working on this project, it is evident to me how radical it is to see our amazing youngsters take up positions that average $108,000 in annual salary at the ages of 19 and 20 in some of the most successful companies around the globe and with no credit card debt. They're contributing to teams of companies like The New York Times, JPMorgan, Cockroach Labs, Spotify and many more, increasing their earning potential at a rate of nearly $75,000 over the course of a year, and also allowing them to invest back into their local communities by buying homes, aiding their family businesses, and supporting their families.

However, even prior to when our Fellows enter the workforce We watch them learn, transform, and blossom as individuals, working harder than ever before to realize their ambitions and building the confidence that they add value in every space they step into. They spend each day growing more curious and more determined to bring change outside the boundaries of Marcy and eventually their work environments. Through their work with instructors as well as with their fellow classmates that they are continuously maintained in the knowledge that their talents, skills and capacities will allow them to dismantle systems of historic inequity through their experience and their education to design tools for the social good as well as for social change.

SQSP: What is the role that technology play in the overall successful operation of the Marcy Lab program and its fellows--both as subject matter and in running the program?

ROOur technological curriculum's effectiveness hinges on our symbiotic relationship with our partners from the employer side in order to establish a consistent feedback loop regarding our Fellows' technological and professional skills. Any areas of improvement that are relevant go right back to our instruction teams to ensure that our content can evolve and change as needed to meet the demands of employers and performance on the job.

This alignment on curriculum and student performance is resulting in the creation of new hiring partnerships with companies that recognize how these intimate connections could lead to better or more equal hiring results. A few highlights are:

Working directly with established companies in order to reduce the requirements of degrees for software engineers, including The New York Times and . They have also hired our Fellows as well as other talent that isn't traditional.

We are developing a new Capstone program curriculum in conjunction with J.P. Morgan Chase Asset and Wealth Management, which specialized in backend data engineering curriculum for our capstone period to satisfy their needs as well as prepare our Fellows to take on the ever-growing expansion in data analytics.

SQSP What do you hope for the future of Marcy Lab School?

ROWhat makes me optimistic about the future of Marcy Lab as well as the potential of the space that we are in is the change happening within the corporate world with companies shifting away from degrees requirements in favor of hiring on the basis of skills which has unlocked the potential for organizations like Marcy Lab to even exist.

I see major employers across the country, from IBM and Barclays to partners like  the one I work for, with a significant number of mid-career, early career, and senior leaders that have come from The Marcy Lab School, similar to Stanford University's pipeline to firms in San Francisco's Bay Area. And after gaining knowledge and experience at these top firms, I can see the graduates eventually leaving to create their own companies as well as transferring the wealth through hiring teams that have similar backgrounds as they had.

Finally, I view Marcy Lab as a part in a broader network of pathways for equitable development designed specifically to lead hundreds of students who excel in school of color into careers that will break cycles of poverty in just a single generation.

SQSP: How do people who are interested in Marcy Lab School's mission become involved?

ROIf the mission of this organization and activities resonate with your, we encourage you to join us as a member of our growing community. We're hoping that we can keep inspiring others when they join in with us in this cause! We frequently share three options that new people can get involved:

Go to our Brooklyn campus in Industry City and meet first-hand the children and teens who work tirelessly to achieve their ambitions and the impressive team who pushes the entire process up.

You can volunteer the time of your life and share your expertise to our Fellows while they go through the rigor of our program for one year to prepare them for the job hunt as well as beyond. Our community of volunteers serve as mentors, curriculum advisors guests lecturers, as well as recruiting partners. They are a critical component of our program, helping keep our curriculum industry-oriented and helping to ensure the satisfaction of all of our Fellows.

In the end, donating to our cause will allow us to ensure that this program is tuition-free for our fellows.