Overview
FuseChange and NTEN, introduced a new and innovative program that started in the Portland Metro Area called The Open Source Fellowship to support workforce development in Oregon’s Tech Sector.
The program recognizes 30-40% of those unemployed are neurodivergent or persons with intellectual disabilities-differences. More often than not, this population of persons is more than capable, often possessing strengths that enable their teams to innovate. The challenge starts seeking out and landing a job when both employers and hiring committees, do not fully understand our neuro-differences. Once on the job working to sustain employment can also be difficult for a variety of reason. The impact in a regular cycle of being unemployed, manifests on a variety of fronts, but can ultimately lead to being without.
Systems Approach
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Goal:
At FuseChange we are a collaboration and systems focused nonprofit. As a result, our underlying goal is to adjust the organizational workplace system to teach the sector how to collaborate and working across a range of neuro-differences.
1. Empower neurodivergent individuals to leverage their strengths
While we can assist neurodivergent persons with career strategies and skills development. What we must more importantly drive towards is a tech workforce that recognize how to collaborate across a variety of different types of minds.
Problem
30-40% of neurodivergent individuals nationwide are unemployed, compared to the general U.S. unemployment rate of around 3-4%. We have an amazing population of people that could contribute to the workforce, however barriers can unintentionally exclude them from the job market.
Neurodiverse persons are valuable!
Harvard Business School, 2017 suggests “Many people with neurological conditions such as autism spectrum disorder and dyslexia have extraordinary skills, including those in pattern recognition, memory, and mathematics. Yet they often struggle to fit the profiles sought by employers.”
Cambridge Journal of Management & Organization, Neurodiverse employees are often particularly skilled in tasks requiring repetition and precision, and they can drive process improvements by identifying inefficiencies.
Middlebury’s Guide on Business for Neurodiversity highlights the business case for neuroinclusive environments, citing that disability-inclusive companies see up to 28% higher revenues. Neurodiverse talent introduces fresh new perspectives, fostering creativity and problem-solving that is beneficial for tackling complex business challenges.
Solution
The Open Source Fellowship focuses on expanding education and training programs to transfer technology skills to persons that identify as neurodiverse. We provide a combination of education, recruiting, technical training and upskill persons in the fellowship. The solution is designed to inspire new recruits, improve self-esteem, refine full-stack development skills and upskill individuals with previous technology workforce experience.
Four distinct parts:
- 1. It’s Open Source
- 2. Recruitment & education events
- 3. Technical training
- 4. Online Courses & Community
- 5. One Year Fellowship (Paid)
1. It’s Open Source
What’s especially unique about this program, everything we do is open source. If what we produce can be valuable and used by others, use it and lets collaborate to improve it.
– Produce Content: We will be making as much of our educational and training materials available online for the public to learn from.
– Build a web-based product: Our fellows and partners are going to create an open source technology that can support the Portland Metropolitan region. The same solution can be used and enhanced by any other community in Oregon, the United States and beyond
2. Recruitment, Education Events
These in person events provide neurodivergent individuals with the opportunities to meet with recruiters and listen to strategists to land a great position in the technology sector. Attendees will learn to identify how their mind and expertise could be a great fit in the IT sectors. Technology experts with lived experience will speak to attendees providing insights from their experiences and share knowledge from their subject matter expertise.
3. Training Events
Trainings are designed to educate neurodivergent individuals about full-stack technology. The events are open to any number of participants and will be staged across the project time-frame. Each training builds on the other by providing practical guidance on the skills required by local technology employers. These include AI & Data, Development Ops, UX/UI, and other core competencies for Full-Stack development.
Measure of success: (Recruitment, Education and Training)
– Get minimum of 600 unique in-person participants to attend the in person events
– Get minimum of 1000 unique virtual participants to attend
– Participants NPS-survey will score a 30+ (great to excellent)
4. Online Courses & Community
We are anticipating providing one-year access to online course who complete initial event series. The online curriculum will coincide with the virtual trainings, so that virtual participants can lean alongside their training and event participation. Every participant is invited to join FuseChange’s virtual community to engage with mentors and the neurodiverse community as they seek to advance in their technology careers.
Measure of success:
– Grow from 0 to 400 monthly active Oregon community members by June 2026
5. One Year Fellowship (Paid)
Up to five participants will be invited to join a paid fellowship for one year. Together, they will build open-source technology that supports a community-based nonprofit in Portland. Each fellow will be trained as a full-stack developer with transferable skills that local employers need.
Measure of success:
– 100% of the participants will feel they are ready to enter or rejoin the workforce
– 100% of the participants are employed
– Participants NPS-survey will score a 30+ (great to excellent
Partners
NTEN is a Portland-based capacity building nonprofit that believes missions and movements are more successful with strategic and equitable technology. NTEN’s programs bring together a diverse community of practitioners from nonprofits of all mission areas, for-profit technology and service providers, foundations and other funders, as well as the consultants and agencies that support them.
FuseChange is a Portland-based nonprofit that powers collaborative ideas and solutions to impact systems change. FuseChange develops open source strategies and technologies that help change makers drive in more impact and work collectively.
Liminal Labs is a Portland-based small business technology company actively engaged with local tech community. Liminal Labs, is a case study as bootstrapped neurodiverse-run company. Liminal find its best candidates within the neurodiverse communities.