BURNSIDE — Before getting involved with Step IT Up America, 23-year-old Stephanie Jefferson struggled to find work.
Though the Burnside resident holds a master’s degree in neuroscience, after graduating in May 2014, she worked in a few part-time and seasonal jobs that left her jobless by January 2015.
Desperate for work, she went back to a nonprofit where she had once interned, but the pay wasn’t enough to cover her daily expenses, she said.
“I had to cut back on a lot,” Jefferson said. “I had to use some of my savings to pay for the bills.”
The hardest thing for Jefferson was not being able to take care of her disabled mother, she said. Jefferson had to move her in with other family members because she didn’t have the finances to take care of her, let alone herself.
Now, thanks to employment programs Step IT Up America and Skills for Chicagoland's Future, she’s found a higher paying job at Discover Financial Services as a quality assurance analyst.
Step IT Up America came to Chicago in 2014 to train women for careers in information technology. The company partnered with Skills for Chicagoland’s Future, a group that pairs employers with qualified and underemployed candidates, to recruit minority women for their first class. Jefferson was a part of the second class that graduated in January after 12 intense weeks.
The January 2015 graduating class brought together 19 minority women from across Chicago. [Step IT Up America]
Founding president and CEO Marie Trzupek Lynch said an organization like Skills is desperately needed, especially for those living in communities such as Auburn Gresham and Englewood.
“We’re thrilled that there is great talent in neighborhoods all across the city and that we’re serving those neighborhoods that were hardest hit by unemployment,” Lynch said. “There are actually a number of employers out there who are looking for great talent and we’ve been able to connect them to those communities with high unemployment.”
She said she’s excited about the Step IT Up America program, which trains and employs minority women. The students participate in a paid, hands-on accelerated training program. Upon completion, they are given salaried jobs.
The program “equips the recruits with the technological skills to launch successful IT careers,” UST Global chief marketing officer Nikki Arora said. “Our goal is to train and employ 5,000 women over the next five years.”
Arora, who is brand ambassador and co-creator of the program, said Chicago needed this. More than 40 percent of the unemployed job seekers Skills placed in 2015 were from Chicago communities with unemployment rates of more than 20 percent, including Austin, Chatham, Avalon Park, South Shore, Auburn Gresham and South Chicago.
“While Chicago has begun to develop initiatives and create a better environment for women in technology, there's still a lot that needs to be done,” she said. “African-American women make up 6.8 percent of the U.S. population yet they hold 1.4 percent of the tech jobs. Why is that, when women in general hold 34 percent of the tech jobs? The statistics overwhelmed us. This program is for all women of color.”
When it comes to U.S. cities with the highest ranking of tech jobs, Chicago ranks fifth place, Arora said.
“A lot of the tech jobs have been created in the last four years alone, a trend that is likely to continue,” she said. “Chicago was one of the fastest-growing cities for tech jobs coming out of the 2008 financial recession, but training remains one of Chicago's biggest needs.”
She calls the program a second chance at life for many participants, such as Jefferson.
The recent graduate said she really appreciates what Skills did for her.
“You are treated like a person and not like a resume,” she said. “At every step of the application process someone from the recruitment team was there to follow-up with me about steps moving forward, sending [me] study guides for the assessments, and even coaching me through the interviews.”
Lynch said Skills typically works with about 40 employers on an annual basis. The employers sign a letter of commitment that they will hire people from the program. Last year, Skills completed about 1,000 job placements.
Lynch said her team plays matchmaker. It's also an advocate for the unemployed.
“By us being in the middle, we have the opportunity to meet with some amazing people across Chicago who just need a chance to get their resumes to the top, and not just be a number out of thousands of other applicants,” she said.
To learn more about the Step IT Up America-Chicago program click here.
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