Ada Developers Academy, the Seattle-based tuition-free software development boot camp for women and underrepresented sexual, gender and racial minorities, is spinning out from its parent organization and going independent.
Ada announced Monday that it is growing at a scale where it will serve more students, expand its impact and implement new support for programs. The organization has launched a fundraising drive to support that growth, and is looking to raise $25,000 between now and Jan. 2 to build up its cash reserves and a six- to nine-month fiscal runway.
Founded in 2013, Ada’s mission is to diversify the tech industry. Its program provides six months of classroom training followed by a five-month internship at one of its corporate partners. It runs two 48-person cohorts per year and has graduated hundreds of students.
Originally a project of the Technology Alliance, Ada became a project of fiscal sponsor TSNE Mission Works of Boston in 2015.
In an email to supporters this week, Ada laid out what it hopes to achieve through independence as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit:
- Expanding class sizes
- Becoming a national organization
- Building independent HR, Finance, and Legal Operations teams
- Exclusive alum continuing education resources for career advancement
- Implementing a corporate training program to reduce barriers to entry and support safe spaces for marginalized folks
Lauren Sato took over as CEO of the organization last December and in a Q&A at the time with GeekWire, she said there’s mounting evidence that what Ada is doing is working and is a demonstrable value to the industry.
“We’re starting to see these cohorts of alumni that really had an impact, where companies are listening to them, they’re asking them what it takes to help them feel like they belong. That’s phenomenal,” Sato said.
