Empowering every person to be future ready
Teachers and students at Frederick Douglass Elementary School, a Code.org partner, teaching computer science.

Empowering every person to be future ready

Beattyville, a town of about 1,200 people in eastern Kentucky, is a good place to see what can happen when rapid change disrupts a community’s economic and social foundations. The coal industry jobs that power this once-prosperous mining town have mostly disappeared. Now, half of Beattyville’s residents live in poverty. A third of its high school students drop out before they graduate. And the opioid epidemic has taken its toll. 

Despite the challenges, the residents of Beattyville have deep pride in their town’s history, culture of hard work and independence, and vast natural beauty. But the question for young people growing up there is how can they create the future they want for themselves and for their community? How can they gain the skills they’ll need to take advantage of the opportunities that the jobs of tomorrow will bring?

Of course, there’s no simple answer. But we do know that access to digital skills and computer science education can make a huge difference. Ask Justin Austin.

Justin grew up in Beattyville. As a high school senior, he took AP computer science through Microsoft’s Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS) program, which connects classroom teachers with technology industry volunteers to team teach computer science. The two engineers who led Justin’s class didn’t just teach programming, they encouraged him to study computing in college and helped him apply. Justin will graduate this spring from the University of Pennsylvania with a double major in computer science and philosophy.

For Justin, his classmates, and high school students in rural and urban communities around the country, TEALS offers more than just access to computing and problem-solving skills—it opens the door to a new world of educational and career opportunities.

When I spoke with Justin recently, he told me how important TEALS has been to his success at an Ivy League university. “Many of my classmates came from private or international schools,” he told said. “But I felt as prepared as anyone.” 

Beattyville is a sign that we’ve reached a critical juncture. Cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and other advances are creating new opportunities for social and economic mobility. But there’s also a risk that entire communities will be left behind.

Today, more than half of America’s employers say they can’t find enough workers with the right digital skills to fill open jobs.

This is why Microsoft Philanthropies was created two years ago. At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. To me, the key word is “every.” Before people can enjoy the benefits that progress brings, they must first be able to use the technologies that make progress possible.

The problem is that billions of people are excluded from today’s technology-driven society. At Microsoft, we believe that as technology moves forward, no one should be left behind. Building upon Microsoft’s 30-year history of philanthropy, we’re working with governments, the private sector, and thousands of nonprofit organizations to make the benefits and opportunities of technology accessible to everyone.

Preparing People for the Digital Economy

Providing the education and training people need to thrive in the digital economy is a defining challenge of our time. Around the world, high school students should graduate with the digital skills they need for jobs that are in demand. Those already in the workforce must have opportunities to gain new skills as they move through their careers.

The imbalance in today’s labor market makes it clear that many of the jobs that are most in demand require a background in computer science. In the United States, for example, there are about 500,000 open jobs in computing, but only 43,000 students earned computer science degrees last year. The TEALS program is helping to close this gap by preparing more U.S. high school students to study computing in college. Last year, 1,050 TEALS volunteers taught about 12,000 students in 348 high schools in 31 states. That’s double the number of students and schools we reached just two years ago. And around the world, through our YouthSpark program, we’ve worked with more than 150 nonprofits in 60 countries to train 200,000 teachers and help more than 3 million young people learn about computer science. About 80 percent of YouthSpark students come from underserved communities. More than half are girls.

Another sign of the imbalance in today’s labor market is the fact that more than half of America’s employers say they can’t find enough workers with the right digital skills to fill open jobs. To help address this, in 2017 we made one of our largest philanthropic investments ever when we announced a three-year, $25 million commitment to support the Markle Foundation’s Skillful program, which is creating centers where people in the workforce can learn what skills are in demand, where to get training, and how to connect with employers. Through this partnership, we seek to help create a skills-based labor market across the U.S. that brings the opportunities of the digital economy to more people.

Using Technology to Strengthen Communities

One of the great privileges of my role as head of Microsoft Philanthropies is the chance to see the impact of technology around the world and explore how we can advance Microsoft’s mission of empowerment. In March, I went to Greece and Jordan to learn more about the refugee crisis there and find out how Microsoft Philanthropies can make a real difference.

It’s a trip I’ll never forget. I was deeply affected by the dignity and resilience of the people I met —people like Aminah, a young woman living in a refugee camp in Greece. I was so impressed as I watched her encourage her friends to be hopeful and strong. And I was moved when she told me about her dream to be a pharmacist. Her passion for education is a reminder that food and shelter aren’t enough. We must also support people in difficult circumstances as they seek to learn new skills, so they can find jobs and rebuild their lives.

How can we create opportunities for people like Aminah? Part of the answer is our commitment to help nonprofits utilize technology for greater impact.

We’re passionate about the potential for technology to serve as a force for good and optimistic about the opportunities that today’s amazing innovations offer for driving social and economic mobility.

In 2016, we said we would donate $1 billion in cloud computing resources to 70,000 nonprofit organizations over three years. But we surpassed that goal by the end of 2017 and now plan to expand our support to more than 300,000 nonprofit organizations around the globe.

 In 2017 we also expanded support for nonprofits beyond providing discounted and donated software and services with the launch of the Technology for Social Impact team. Now we work with nonprofits like Medical Teams International (MTI) to help them use technology to transform how they deliver healthcare to people affected by disaster and conflict.

MTI provides medical care to refugees from the South Sudan who live in large resettlement camps in Uganda. There, we helped Cambia Health Systems develop a secure mobile app that automatically collects data from every patient that MTI doctors treat. That data enables MTI to identify potential outbreaks of malaria, cholera, and other deadly diseases early enough to prevent epidemics.

Microsoft is also working to bring the promise of technology to rural communities and smaller metropolitan areas around the world. For example, our Airband initiative is delivering broadband access to rural communities in 25 countries using new technology. In July we outlined a plan that will allow the U.S. to eliminate the rural broadband gap within 5 years. As part of the plan, Microsoft will provide broadband access to 2 million Americans by 2022. And through the Microsoft TechSpark initiative, we’re working to foster economic opportunity and job creation in six U.S. towns and small cities through deep partnerships in local communities. Airband and TechSpark are initiatives that bring together teams from across the company, with Microsoft Philanthropies programs like TEALS, and nonprofit partners such as 4-H, at the center of our efforts to empower more people.

Another privilege of my role at Microsoft Philanthropies is responsibility for the Microsoft Employee Giving Program. The generosity of our employees is remarkable and their commitment to aid those in need truly drives our mission. In 2017, U.S. employees raised a record $156 million through our Giving Program. And, in a year that saw an unusual number of natural disasters, our employees contributed $3.7 million to relief and recovery efforts. Including technology and services, Microsoft’s support for humanitarian emergencies in 2017 was over $16 million.

But it’s more than just money. Microsoft employees are passionate about contributing their time and expertise. The 189 software engineers who taught computer science through TEALS in 2017 is just one example. Another is the Microsoft employees who used advanced technology to create up-to-date maps of Puerto Rico that helped the International Red Cross deliver emergency aid after Hurricane Maria.

Working Together to Achieve Systemic Change

One of Microsoft Philanthropies’ guiding principles is that, as a company at the forefront of the digital transformation, we have an obligation to bring people and organizations together to ensure that the benefits of the technology revolution are available to all.

This is a role we’ve played for a long time. In the U.S., we’ve worked with educators, communities, and other companies to pass new laws in more than 20 states to accept computer science credits to fulfill high school graduation requirements. Over the last six years, we’ve invested more than $35 million in the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship program, a public-private partnership that enables high school graduates from low- and middle-income families to earn degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math. The program has provided scholarships to more than 8,400 students—60 percent of whom are women and 73 percent students of color. In the UK, the Microsoft Partner Apprenticeship Program has provided on-the-job technology skills training and a pathway to rewarding jobs and careers for more than 15,000 young people since its inception in 2010.

Every young person in every city, town, and village—even every refugee camp—should have the skills and knowledge they need to thrive in the digital economy. 

At Microsoft, we’re passionate about the potential for technology to serve as a force for good and optimistic about the opportunities that today’s amazing innovations offer for driving social and economic mobility.

To truly empower every person, we must come together to make sure that stories like Justin’s are the rule, not the exception.

Every young person in every city, town, and village—even every refugee camp—should have the skills and knowledge they need to thrive in the digital economy. Whether they go to college or not, every high school graduate should have opportunities to pursue rewarding jobs and build lives filled with meaning and purpose. Every worker in every profession should have access to programs that help them adapt to a changing labor market as technology advances.

As technology moves forward, no one should be left behind. At Microsoft Philanthropies, we believe nothing is more important than this. We hope you will join us in our quest to create a future that is for everyone.

LOVETH UGOCHUKWU

Social Media Advocate at WomenTech Network

5y

Nice to be here I have a Daughter of eight years old and she is already a programmer how can Microsoft help

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Ewaz Nazari

We have a crazy dream all say it is impossible but we believe it. #keyinternationalacademy

5y

#keyinternationalacademy

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Frank Balabyeki

Head Of Risk at KCB Bank Uganda Ltd

6y

Shane Haych. There is no need to sound negative. Let's embrace the positives and work on giving feedback to microsoft to improve on the areas of concern. We all have mistakes we make even when we are trying to be good to people. As long as we acknowledge our mistakes and rectify them, I see no problem with that.

Greg Steer

Volunteer Mentor at alumni UBC

6y

Knowledge is essential but not sufficient. Leaders of digital transformation in business and government require a strategy for human resource development to ensure that employees have knowledge, experience and mentorship. Knowledge will perish without use. Experience provides confidence to apply knowledge, and mentorship transfers judgement from one generation to the next.

It's great that industry invests in the community within which it is based. However, it is still geared to the future that industry sees for itself not the future that an individual may need to discover for themselves. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/12/there-are-no-clean-clouds/420744/

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