Covenant House’s IT Career Pathway: A Game-Changing Program 

Adalyn*, a resident at Covenant House California, has just completed a certification in project management through our IT Career Pathway program. The self-paced course takes about six months to complete, but Adalyn remembers Day 1 like it was yesterday.  

“The first course, I started learning about frameworks. And I just loved it. It was amazing and just how my brain thinks,” she recalls. “I’m someone who loves order, everything organized. When it taught me the different kinds of systems that are possible for creating order, that was the biggest takeaway. And how certain systems can keep on working even when I’m not there — that was a huge mind blow for me!” 

Project management is one of five different certifications available through the IT Career Pathway program. Youth can also be certified in cybersecurity, data analytics, digital marketing and e-commerce, and UX design. 

Miracle, who resides at CHC’s supportive apartment program and also loves art, chose data analytics. She’s completed all the coursework and is studying for the exam that will lead to her certification. While she hasn’t landed on information technology as a career choice, she feels the rigorous course is already applicable to her daily life.  

“I can picture myself using certain aspects, basically, to do my research with the data,” she says. “It can help me look at how to make a decision in a different way than I would have originally made it. So, I would have to say that’s something of value.” 

Why It Works 

The IT Career Pathway program started as a pilot program at seven Covenant House sites in 2022. Today, after three years of practice, testing, and learning, it’s part of our regular workforce development offerings across all our sites in the U.S. and Canada. It offers youth entry into a career that promises a living wage, doesn’t require a college degree, is resistant to automation, and has room to grow.  

Covenant House youth had expressed interest in the IT field but found it difficult to break into. Our program opens this career door to them, especially to young women, “who are woefully underrepresented in the technology field,” says Regina Jennings, associate vice president for programs at Covenant House International. 

Regina notes that program participants receive a stipend and, so, can really focus on the course without having to worry about dividing their time between their studies and work. “All the youth I’ve spoken to have expressed that the financial aid is a huge motivating factor,” she says. 

She says the IT Career Pathway program, which works with Grow with Google and Cisco Networking Academy, has expanded with input like that from youth and the dedication of the staff who support them. 

"The lessons we’ve learned from youth go, literally, from enrolling them in the program, to seeing them through to completion, to then helping them connect to internships and employment opportunities,” Regina says. “Then there’s the staffing piece, where we really need a dedicated staff person who is supporting the youth in all the ways they need.” 

Unwavering Support for Youths’ Rigorous Studies 

At CHC, that dedicated staff person is Roberto Gonzalez, career coach. His support begins when he presents the program to case managers and asks them to discern potential participants. Ideally, Roberto says, students will have completed high school and have some experience with online learning platforms. 

Once the youth are identified, he meets individually with them. He provides an overview of the program, hears each young person’s goals, and probes with them how the program might help them reach those goals.  

Each participant enrolls in prerequisite courses, totaling 40 hours of study. Then the IT coursework begins. Roberto checks in with students every two weeks and offers one-on-one time with anyone needing individualized attention.  

“If they're struggling to figure out their study style, I have those sessions with them to help them create structures and awareness of how they can better succeed,” he says.    

“My experience with the program has been really great,” Roberto says. “In the first year, I learned a lot about managing expectations and just being able to identify people who are really able to commit and understand what they’re committing to.”  

Motivation 

“For the young people who were able to go through it, they were very ecstatic, very motivated, and very happy with the process,” Roberto says.  

Including Adalyn and Miracle.  

Miracle says the coding piece of her studies “was definitely challenging. There are so many intricate details you have to think about. And you have to make sure the code is easy to understand and use, and that, alone, is a process.”  

But, she adds, the course “tapped into a different part of my brain that I, honestly, did not know was there. It made me rethink a lot of things that most people just write off as what’s being told to them. But it really made me rethink a lot of things.” 

Adalyn says her project management program was amazing. “I enjoyed it 100%. Each lesson has some kind of WOW! moment,” she says.  

Adalyn loves studying and plans to go on to college.  

“It’s not even for the degree and stuff,” she says. “It’s about who I am after the [IT Career Pathway] course. My ultimate goal is to be able to take care of myself completely. And I just feel empowered to take care of myself using the skills I’ve learned in the course. That’s what it means to me: who I am after it. Yeah, it’s very empowering.” 

That is the hope with our Career Pathways programs, that young people will discover, embrace, and hone the skills and talents they already own and which can put them on a road toward sustainable independence. This is one of the ways we can end youth homelessness as we know it today. 

*Covenant House often changes the names of the youth featured in our blogs to protect their privacy.