The Summer Edition - Reigniting the Movement

Reignited by NPower’s July Retreat!

After almost two years of Covid-triggered working from home, I was energized to gather, in-person, with all of my NPower and Command Shift colleagues, including our CEO, senior leaders, and staff, for our first all-staff retreat. Two days of working sessions and team building reignited our passion, purpose, and perspective as we discussed how our team ensures that NPower’s strategic foundation is built for continued growth and impact.

There are unlimited possibilities to take what we have learned and support more people, especially as we work to help women of color from non-traditional backgrounds achieve economic mobility through tech jobs. Command Shift is at the beginning of a very important journey, we are working to diversify the tech industry with women of color and building the optimal world so they can grow and thrive as tech leaders.  

We look forward to connecting with you as we activate our 2022-23 roadmap. We’ll keep you updated on the many activities planned this fall, including our October gala and participation in several high-profile conferences.

Thank you for your support as Command Shift works to expand opportunities for women of color in tech.

Candice L. Dixon, Coalition Director

VOTE UP for the Command Shift Coalition’s SXSW EDU Panel

We have groundbreaking research to share at SXSW EDU 2023, and with your help, we will get there!

2.6M Women of Color Are Hiding in Plain Sight

Our nation needs a new Equation for Workforce Equality that helps to diversify the tech industry by prioritizing women of color. NPower’s Command Shift coalition, informed by new research from Lightcast (previously Emsi Burning Glass), will present breakthrough research that reveals a first-ever strategy: tap into the 2.6 million women of color who are working in tech-similar jobs and with more tech training, could attain pure tech jobs. 

VOTE ⬆ UP at https://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/130956 before Sunday (8/21) to help us get our action-driving research on stage at SXSW EDU .

Activating the Equation for Equality: NETSCOUT

NETSCOUT is a leading provider of cybersecurity, service assurance, and business analytics solutions headquartered in Westford, Massachusetts. One of the ways NETSCOUT fulfills its mission as Guardians of the Connected World is by helping to bridge the digital divide by working with important social impact programs such as NPower.

Since 2017, NETSCOUT has worked with NPower in a variety of ways, including hosting NPower students as IT service desk interns. NETSCOUT employees have volunteered with NPower as regional advisory board members, class speakers, mock interviewers, and mentors. As a (founding) member of the Command Shift Coalition, they've helped to create access to technology careers for underrepresented talent, especially women of color.

Most recently, NETSCOUT showcased NPower and the Command Shift coalition at their ENGAGE customer conference. This opportunity helped to drive awareness of how organizations like NPower and programs like Command Shift can help bridge the digital divide through technology education and access to technology careers, especially for women of color. These opportunities are important not only for the tech industry as a whole, which is facing a significant skills shortage, but also for the individuals for whom the opportunity to access highly-paid technology careers can improve their lives and positively impact their entire families.  Yvonne Erdogan, NETSCOUT's Command Shift Coalition member shares, “From an early age, I learned about myself and the responsibility I have to the community. NPower’s mission to move people from poverty to the middle class through tech skills training, quality job placement, and, more specifically, the Command Shift Coalition’s goal of accelerating more women of color in the technology field, allows me to be part of something great that can improve and help make a difference in someone’s life as well as my own."

NETSCOUT Guardians have made a commitment to defend, protect, and advance the most vulnerable people in our communities. Their support, along with the support from all of the Command Shift Coalition partners, help drive our work forward and push us closer to achieving our goal of doubling the number of women of color in technology.

The Equation in Action: Nneke Haley 

“If someone had told me five months ago that I would be interning with one of the largest financial institutions while working from home in my first apartment, with two IT certificates for show… I probably would NOT have believed them.”

During the pandemic, Nneke became uncertain of what her future career would look like and found herself, as she calls it, “serial applying.” As her number one priority was getting a job, she jumped at the opportunity to become a home health aide but quickly discovered that this was not a long-term solution for her. She was drawn to NPower with the prospect of receiving free tech training and securing in-demand IT certifications. Nneke describes her training as holistic, noting that it not only developed her technical acumen but also gave her the confidence as a young woman of color to showcase her newly acquired technical skills and show up as her authentic self. 

Nneke now works as an Information Technology Apprentice with the Management Development team at Citi and has increased her earning potential by 165%.

Command Shift in the News

In Her Own Words: Candice Dixon leads women of color into tech