Since its early days, nonprofit organization Can Code Communities (Can Code) has been focused on growing the information technology talent pipeline in New York State and beyond. Can Code was founded in 2016 in Albany, New York. Ten years later, the organization continues to encourage “trainees” of all ages to explore careers in the technology sector, providing opportunities for all ages and levels of digital literacy.

Can Code began as an effort to empower adult learners to acquire the job skills necessary to join the expanding tech workforce. From there, the organization’s leaders realized the underpinnings of digital workforce development lie in integrating basic digital literacy skills in all stages of learning, from K-12 to adulthood.

Can Code now uplifts community members across ten states by ensuring they have the opportunity to access the internet, learn how to use internet-connected devices, and pursue the uses of technology they value.

The Beginnings of Can Code

Founder and CEO of Can Code, Annmarie Lanesey, sought to address two challenges when creating the organization. A software developer herself, Lanesey recognized that 1) tech companies in Albany were looking to hire and 2) those companies needed more talent. She also saw that there was enormous untapped potential in the preexisting workforce, but a lack of training opportunities. Schools weren’t teaching coding to kids, and adult workers weren’t always aware that tech was a career path available to them.

“People are walking around our communities not knowing they have the aptitude for these high-paying tech sector jobs,” said Lanesey.

To Lanesey, the effort is more than just encouraging adults to explore a career change. It’s about giving everyone, regardless of educational background, an equal chance to access economic mobility through acquiring digital skills and expanding employment opportunities.

“Our work is really deeply about lifting people out of poverty through digital skills,” she said.

Lanesey first sought out an educational partner with whom she could build a course for a first cohort of students. She landed at the State University of New York (SUNY) Schenectady County Community College. Together, Lanesey and the SUNY Schenectady Office of Workforce Development and Community Education developed a 12-week course on front-end website development for interested trainees. This workforce training course was not for credit, but trainees walked away with a certificate of completion signed by Can Code (then AlbanyCanCode) and SUNY Schenectady.

Can Code’s first program with SUNY Schenectady was funded through individual training grants received under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), available to under- and unemployed workers. WIOA funds are designed to both help job seekers access employment, education, training, and support services to succeed in the labor market and to match employers with the skilled workers they need to compete in the global economy.

Ten trainees completed that first course. Since then, Can Code has exploded. The organization now averages roughly a thousand trainees per year across all of its class offerings, which have expanded to include everything from foundational digital skills courses to numerous software specialties, coding languages, and artificial intelligence (AI) education and applications. Can Code collaborates on in-person STEM education with K-12 institutions and partners with at least ten community colleges and four-year colleges to support adult learners. As for its basic digital skills courses and other information technology offerings, Can Code is unique: since the COVID-19 pandemic, all of these classes are held remotely, even those in which trainees are taught how to turn on the very devices they use to sign into class.

Can Code is constantly evolving its curriculum and course offerings, but the core goal of supporting the tech workforce continues to drive its mission.

Workforce Development is an Industry Imperative

Can Code plays the role of the facilitator. The organization supports trainees through their learning journey and connects them to tech industry employers. The core goal of upskilling through technology is most effective when education leads to employment, something the nonprofit prioritized from the beginning.

Lanesey knew, upon entering the workforce training sphere, that tech companies needed to be involved to connect trainees with job opportunities upon course completion. Direct employer engagement came via both funding and mentorship. Lanesey’s company, Greane Tree Technology Group, dedicated funding to Can Code’s early work. Lanesey leveraged her connections to hire software engineers to mentor trainees during the course, enabling direct networking as trainees developed their IT skills. In the first six months, Can Code had roughly 25 employer partners.

The curriculum for Can Code’s programming is created and modified in partnership with employers, based on the skills most relevant to the tech sector job market. The software courses begin with foundational coding languages, such as HTML, and front-end web development skills as a gateway to more advanced software development training. Trainees can then move on to other languages, such as JavaScript or Python, explore cybersecurity subject areas, or master the foundations of machine learning and AI. Can Code’s courses are designed to be stackable—programs that are structured like a ladder, so trainees can progress from one certification to another—and to enable trainees to build a portfolio of work that they can show to prospective employers.

“Every curriculum comes from that employer network that we have, and runs by what skills are most in demand, because we want to be training people for jobs,” says Lanesey.

The workforce development courses are held quarterly, with 15-20 people participating in each course and 4-5 different courses running at a time. Trainees also develop their soft skills for employability, boosting both transferable and technical skills. The nonprofit helps trainees with hands-on interview preparation and connects them with an active employer network, encouraging continued access to hiring managers and industry mentors after graduation.

Not all trainees participate in Can Code’s courses with the goal of landing a job in software development; some are looking to gain new skills for freelance work or for other professional roles. Yet Can Code reports that, on average, trainees see a $25,000 pay increase after completing one of the organization’s programs.

Digital Skills at the K-12 Level

One year after launching the software course for adults, Can Code started collaborating with school districts to help embed computer science programming into K-12 education. When schools saw what the organization was doing, they were interested in bringing those skills to students to make them aware of STEM opportunities from a young age.

“Superintendents from school districts in the Albany area started to call us, and they’d say, ‘We see what you're doing with adults. Can you help us with K-12?’” said Lanesey. “We started doing direct programming in schools with teachers, professional development, after-school enrichment, summer camps…to help kids get a better sense of the digital skills training in the jobs of the future.”

The support Can Code provides to schools depends on each school partner's specific needs. Can Code’s instructors will work with teachers on professional development or help them set up computer science education in their curriculum. The nonprofit emphasizes integrating computer science elements into the curriculum so they're complementary and cohesive; for example, instructors might set up a beginner coding project for students to complete instead of a book report in one of their language arts/English classes.

Filling in the Gaps With Basic Digital Skills Training

Can Code began offering basic digital skills courses in 2018, partnering with community anchor institutions to offer in-person classes. The organization’s leaders saw that internet access, device access, and foundational elements of digital literacy were barriers that prevented many people from taking advantage of their computer science offerings.

“We realized people aren't going to make it to the more advanced training if they don't have the basics yet,” said Lanesey.

Can Code’s first beginner computer training program was held with the YWCA in Troy, New York, integrating its digital skills programming into the YWCA’s preexisting Jameson Rounds Ready for Work Program, an economic empowerment program that provides women with job-readiness training.

When the pandemic hit, Can Code moved all its courses online, teaching trainees everything from turning on a device to working with Python in a completely remote setting. And as pandemic restrictions began to ease, the organization decided this was still the best way to deliver training.

“We were seeing people adopt the technology just like we're doing right now,” Lanesey said. “And we realized the medium is the message. This is how we have to teach…we really believe in allowing people to learn how to use a computer this way.”

Can Code still does some in-person hybrid training with community anchor institutions, but the bulk of its work is remote. At the height of the pandemic, Can Code sent hotspots to trainees who lacked sufficient internet connections through their laptop loaner library. Currently, trainees receive a laptop at the start of their Can Code course and can keep it afterward.

For beginner computer training students, Can Code instructors will try to set up an in-person meeting to walk the trainees through the laptop before the courses begin. If they’re unable, then instructors will do this onboarding over the phone.

According to Delma Wood, a Can Code beginner computer training instructor for both English and Spanish-language cohorts, most students are on board after the first class or two, and are focused on the material, not the device.

“The beginning is very hard because these are people who have never had a computer. I have to explain to them how to turn it on, how to log into [Microsoft] Teams, how to share their screen,” said Wood.

A retired professor, Wood has taught for decades. Now at Can Code Communities, she enjoys remote teaching: 

“It’s very inspiring because that gives me the opportunity to have trainees from all over,” she said. “And it’s just very interesting for them. For me personally, I love it because I can teach out of my house.”

Beginner computer training courses—which often have 20-25 trainees per cohort—are held twice a week for three hours each, over six weeks, with a certificate of completion at the end of the course. Some trainees get partial completion certificates, which cover the skills that they did learn and complete, if they aren’t able to finish the course in full. Can Code instructors want trainees to leave with something, even if they don’t finish the full course.

“No one loses out on their progress,” said Pat Lacey, a Can Code instructor who leads the organization’s AI training courses, including AI Essentials, Machine Learning Foundations, and AI for Professionals.

The beginner computer training course developed by Can Code evolved with need and was created based on what trainees were asking for. It’s been an organic process, Lanesey says, and is designed to be more of a “skills-share” than more traditional classroom models. The organization wants learning opportunities to be as collaborative as possible, and there’s no testing by design. The goal is to build trainees' confidence and inspire people to use digital tools in ways that best fit them. Lanesey recognizes that many trainees may be coming in with prior negative experiences with the traditional education system, and wants the Can Code class environment to feel different.

Ten Years of Development Amid a Changing Education Ecosystem

Can Code leverages a variety of partners and funding sources to make workforce development and digital skills training possible.

The organization has connections with multiple state offices with similar goals—including the New York Office for New Americans, the Department of Labor, and the Empire State Development Office—all of which have workforce development and job training among their objectives. Empire State Development, in particular, has been a valuable partner.

“They've really supported our work because they think it's economic development tied into workforce development,” said Lanesey. “It's all about economic mobility. We've been very lucky to be able to really measure the impact in a person's life and to get support.”

When the Digital Equity Act of 2021 was signed into law and Congress authorized $2.75 billion in digital equity funds, Can Code felt the impact of that funding source and recognition from the federal level.

“​​Until the Digital Equity Act was passed, people didn't really understand this as a really big need,” Lanesey said.

When the Digital Equity Act funds were terminated, digital inclusion organizations across the country, like Can Code, had to change course. This is where Can Code remains resilient: since the beginning, the organization has braided together different workforce development funding sources and made the case for its work beyond digital equity-specific funding opportunities.

“Although the resources that have gotten us to where we're at have been incredible, it just feels like we've always just been skimming the surface on the need, and there's so much more that we can do,” she said. “There isn't sustained funding for it, which just makes it really hard.”

Despite the challenging funding environment it faces, the Can Code organization will evolve alongside its learners and prepare them for technological challenges, such as the emergence of new AI platforms. The organization has steadily built out multiple AI courses.

Adapting to changing needs is central to Can Code Communities' mission to ensure everyone can thrive, digitally and beyond.

“It's always about helping people achieve their dreams and live a meaningful life in a digital economy,” Lanesey said.

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