White House Announces Prime Digital
Academy Scholarships for Students of Color
$500 scholarships part of national TechHire initiative
Minneapolis, November 17, 2015 – The White House and U.S, Department of Labor today announced several nationwide initiatives as part of its TechHire program, including a new $500 scholarship offered by Prime Digital Academy (Prime) for students of color.
Currently, 15% of Prime’s students identify as non-white – but the bootcamp for aspiring software engineers believes scholarship support will move the needle on diversity. “Scholarships for women offered by The Nerdery – Prime’s sister company – have contributed to 35% of our applicants being women and 38% of our students being female,” said Mark Hurlburt, President of Prime Digital Academy.
The White House reports that among America’s 5.5 million open jobs, over half a million are in information technology fields such as software development – and that the average salary in a job that requires IT skills is 50 percent higher than the average private-sector American job. The new scholarship for students of color is funded by Prime to support minorities looking to start careers in software development.
From White House fact sheet: “In Minneapolis, Minnesota the first class of graduates from the Minneapolis partner Prime Digital Academy are being hired. Additionally, they have launched a $500 scholarship for any student of color applying to participate in the program this year.”
You can find the full announcement on the White House website here.