The future belongs to all of us.
Building an AI-ready Western Mass
Every few years, technology changes what it takes to find a job, pay a bill or stay close to family. Each wave of change is a chance to open the door to everyone.
AI is our next global wave of change, and Tech Foundry is built for this moment.
For nearly 12 years, Tech Foundry has been helping people in Western Mass gain the skills for careers in a changing economy.
At Tech Foundry, we have always believed that talent is universal, and that opportunity should be too.
This fall, we are raising funds to make AI skills available to everyone who asks for help, from a neighbor who is taking their first tech class to the people who lead our workplaces.
Our AI training reaches three groups:-
Residents
Free "AI for life and work" literacy and security classes, including the opportunity to earn a Google certification, at our Tech Hubs in Holyoke and Springfield and at 30+ pop-up locations.
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Workers
Professional AI skills for current students, alumni and employees of local businesses, through our workforce training programs.
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Leaders
AI courses to help small business owners and nonprofit leaders leverage the new technology to drive growth.
That is what your gift to Tech Foundry builds:
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Tech Hubs with free classes that now include AI, in Spanish, English and Russian.
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Experienced instructors and Digital Fellows, many of whom are our own graduates, who teach and guide every learner.
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Workforce training, in which AI is part of every curriculum we offer, with specialized advanced classes launching soon with your support! Our graduates' average income rises from about $11,000 before training to more than $42,000 in their first job.
"I came into Tech Launch wanting to learn and get my foot into the tech world, and now I get to use what I learned to help other people in my community learn and become more comfortable with technology too."
Your Gift and What it Provides
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$100
A helping hand at the keyboard. Four hours with a Digital Fellow, a Tech Foundry graduate who remembers what it is to start from scratch, sitting with one neighbor until technology stops feeling out of reach.
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$250
A first chair in an AI class. Your gift goes towards bringing an AI class to a Tech Hub or pop-up location, so a neighbor who has never touched AI finds a seat, a patient teacher and a reason to come back.
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$500
A Digital Fellow by their side. 22 hours of one-on-one help from a Tech Foundry graduate, in the learner's own language, so no one has to face a confusing new tool alone.
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$1,000
A classroom ready for AI. One class, start to finish: our three-lesson AI fundamentals course, taught in English, Spanish and Russian at a Tech Hub or pop-up location, so a whole room of neighbors learns together.
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$2,500
An instructor at the front of the room. Supports the instructors who make AI part of every workforce training course, so each student training for an IT career leaves ready for the way work is changing, and confident they belong there.
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$5,000
A Tech Hub with the lights on. Keeps a Tech Hub open and staffed: the free community space in Holyoke or Springfield where any neighbor can walk in and ask for help in their own language, with classes, devices and a Digital Fellow on hand. Last year, our community's gifts scaled the Holyoke Hub's availability from six hours a week to three full days.
The urgent moment is now. AI is changing how people apply for work, do their jobs, read their emails, and tell what is real, and new tools arrive every month. More employers expect people to use AI on the job, and too many of our neighbors have nowhere to learn it. Your support can provide the funds so that our students are AI ready, and so that employers have the workforce they need.
Public funding of our life-changing tech classes, free to all in our region, remains uncertain.
Your gifts are the flexible dollars that let us ensure that the future belongs to all of us.
Our goal: $75,000 by December 31.
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