Impact Profile
Empowering Inner City Youth with Digital Skills
Sustainable Development Goals:
#1 No Poverty
#4 Quality Education
#5 Gender Equality
#8 Decent Work & Economic Growth
#9 Industry, Innovation, & Infrastructure
#10 Reduced Inequalities
#16 Peace, Justice, & Strong Institutions
#17 Partnerships for the Goals
Business Drivers:
Increase market awareness
Create new market opportunities
Inspire, attract, and retain top talent
SUMMARY
CISCO is an American multinational technology conglomerate that develops, manufactures and sells networking hardware, telecommunications equipment, and other high-technology services and products. CISCO has a robust commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and measures its success on how positively they impact people, society, and the environment. A multitude of their social impact efforts help lift people out of poverty, support community development, and drive economic growth.
Problem
As an affordable city, New Orleans is attracting creatives, innovators, and technology companies. It has one of the fastest growing technology job markets in the United States, and the number of tech jobs has grown by more than 35% since 2012. At the same time, while educational attainment is improving, poverty rates continue to increase, which conveys the necessity to connect people to these jobs and ensure they have the relevant skills.
Solution
Anudip is a nonprofit organization operating in India and the USA that provides a successful process of continuous diverse job skill training and mentoring for low-income youth and women. Their proven model enables low-income youth and women to develop skills that allow them to transition into technology-enabled jobs or self-employment.
To do this, Anudip uses ethnographic surveys of locations, market scans of livelihood opportunities in the region, and long-term relations with employers, to design unique programs that match skills training to current job market needs.
CISCO has partnered with Anudip since 2014. In 2018, with CISCO’s funding, Anudip will establish two skills development centers in New Orleans to help close the gap on unemployment and to provide critical digital and workplace skill training in this growing city.
WHAT's NEXT
Anudip’s goal is to to generate 100,000 tech-driven careers by 2020 with CISCO’s partnership and the pilot of the New Orlean’s development centers as a jumping off point to expand in the USA.
“All they need is a helping hand for the ability to get into the job market,”
- Dipak Basu, CEO of Anudip Foundation.
Bibliography: CISCO Wikipedia, CISCO CSR, Empowering Underserved Communities; Empowering New Orleans’ Youth with Digital Skills