Per Scholas is expanding its Larkvinlle campus and adding a Rochester satellite to continue acting as a throughput for good-paying jobs in WNY.
Per Scholas entered Buffalo following an analysis of the local market for technology jobs.
The global, no-cost technical training organization knows it can quickly prepare individuals for tech and tech-adjacent careers.
But it needs to know that participants of its 15-week certificate courses — weighted toward IT with a heavy dose of professional development — will find the opportunities that befit their talent.
Asked and answered.
Out of the 84 participants enrolled in Per Scholas classes, approximately 60 have already landed full-time jobs, said Jeremy Besch, managing director of Per Scholas’ Buffalo office. That equates to $3.5 million in annual income.
“These are people who are from this community, who have roots here and are not interested in leaving,” Besch said.
The initiative’s success in Buffalo has led to plans for expansion. Per Scholas is expanding ts Larkinville campus to add more classrooms and is also opening a satellite office in Rochester. The goal is to serve a higher throughput of students that can leverate that experience to find gainful employment.
Per Scholas has significant wrap-around support, including a $3,000 low-interest loan financed by Google that many of its participants use while they’re going through the program. That loan is forgiven if its recipients meet certain conditions.
Besch knew it would be a challenge introducing a new workforce entity in Buffalo, where competition for nonprofit dollars can be intense. But Per Scholas works closely with many of those entities, including the Northland Workforce Training Center, TechBuffalo, Mission Ignite and Workforce Buffalo.
That collaborative identity has allowed it to quickly carve out a positive signal in the community. Per Scholas revenue comes from public grants, philanthropy and corporate sponsorship, and it counts Empire State Development Corp., the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation and New York Power Authority among its initial local funders.
“One of the things that makes Buffalo a good market for this is that we have employers across industries, not just in tech, who are constantly in search of a quality workforce.” We have more community members than we should who haven’t had access to good career pathways. We just get to live in the middle of that and make those connections.”
