May 2021
As both a non-profit organization and higher education entity, the work of CNM Ingenuity, which runs the Deep Dive bootcamps, succeeds because of the unique and meaningful ways we form partnerships. Hi, I’m Andrea, Program Director of Deep Dive and employee of CNM Ingenuity since it was established in 2014. I’ve been with Central New Mexico Community College for 10 years, and I’m grateful to work for an organization that focuses on Changing Lives and Building Community.
We were recently awarded a grant from the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation, to support rural New Mexico youth in achieving new technical job skills through our part time User Experience/User Interface (UX/UI) Design bootcamp. Applications are open with a deadline of June 28, 2021! Along with other grantees, including Creative Startups, High Plains Regional Education Cooperative, MASS Design Group, Moving Arts Española, and SEL Launchpad, I was asked to be on a panel for a presentation on April 20. This panel was titled Achieving Equity through Partnerships and Programming. While preparing, I started thinking a lot about the partners who have supported Deep Dive over the years. The stories and outcomes from these partnerships are the reason the Thoma Foundation invested in us and in our community, so in this blog post I’d like to share other stories of foundations who have supported Deep Dive.
First of all, CNM Ingenuity and Deep Dive got off to a good start because of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF). WKKF supported Deep Dive soon after we opened the CNM STEMulus Center in 2014. Way back in 2017, I wrote a blog post on Medium about how partners like WKKF provide access to technical training to those who may have not otherwise had the opportunity. Thanks to WKKF, we changed many lives, and published a book of success stories in 2020. We also proved that we can be good stewards of private foundation funds in a way that creates opportunity for economic and workforce development in New Mexico.
We’ve also partnered with the McCune Charitable Foundation, who provided funding for entrepreneurs coming out of our bootcamp, and helped establish our Technology Solutions Labs (TSL), which gives some Deep Dive graduates project based compensation to develop really cool digital media products, IoT devices, and other technology projects. To date, we’ve hired 18 Deep Dive graduates, completed 28 technology projects, and we’ve won several awards!
Also supporting TSL, last year we received a grant from Sandia National Labs to provide technology solutions to several small businesses in New Mexico, with a goal of helping them improve technology as part of their strategy to support their clients during the pandemic.
In 2019, Facebook donated funds for 32 Deep Dive scholarships. While many partners want us to focus on a specific population, this one was fun because it was really open to anyone who applied, so it created many opportunities for those who may not fit at-risk demographics, but still can’t afford a bootcamp.
The PNM Resources Foundation has supported us in helping to license our bootcamp curriculum, to develop the curriculum for our UX/UI Design bootcamp, and in providing access funds for the Data Science bootcamp.
The United Way of Central New Mexico’s Family Advocacy Center partnered with us to recruit our first UX/UI cohort. This group consisted of women who were victims of interpersonal violence. This is another partnership that helped influence the Thoma Foundation to work with us.
There are many other examples of partners, so I’m sorry if I left any out, but those mentioned here have specifically helped to diversify our bootcamp audience, to support small businesses, to help bootcamp graduates get jobs, and to provide many opportunities to our students to help make sure they’re successful. These partners are part of what makes Deep Dive unique and special. We care deeply about providing access and opportunity and in driving success, especially for those who may not think they’re ready for a career in technology. Want to learn more about how to partner with us or how you might benefit from our partnerships? Contact me at [email protected], and let’s talk!
