Centric Consulting announced “Digital Inclusion” as its companywide community engagement theme in response to COVID-19 and civil unrest. We’re sponsoring LaunchCode as part of that initiative.
St. Louis, MO, April 5, 2021 – Centric Consulting has partnered with LaunchCode, a nonprofit offering free technology education and job placement opportunities to people from all backgrounds, to sponsor its latest Liftoff Cohort in St. Louis.
Starting today and during the next eight weeks, Centric’s St. Louis team will volunteer time to support Liftoff — LaunchCode’s eight-week career readiness and project course focused on moving learners with coding skills through the difficult final phase of their pre-apprenticeship learning journey.
The sponsorship is possible thanks to proceeds from company President and co-founder Larry English’s book, “Office Optional: How to Build a Connected Culture with Virtual Teams.”
“From the onset, I knew I wanted to donate all of the proceeds from ‘Office Optional’ to charity. The pandemic and civil unrest during 2020 made it clear that we must bridge the digital divide in our country,” says English. “We were so excited to find LaunchCode, which has a proven approach to help get underrepresented groups successfully into a knowledge economy career. I’m so grateful to be able to help people realize they can be successful in a technology career and take steps to improve all of our communities and people’s lives.”
This sponsorship with LaunchCode also marks the beginning of our new companywide community outreach improvement theme of “Digital Inclusion.”
After the protests in June of 2020, we created a new effort called “Centric Together,” which refocuses its diversity, inclusion and belonging endeavor on four key themes: Diversify and Nurture, Learn and Grow, Connect and Collaborate, and Measure and Share.
Through Centric Together, we focused on identifying a centralized community engagement topic. We decided “Digital Inclusion” would be that topic. Our mission is to provide and support education, access and employment opportunities in technology and technology-related fields for all people — regardless of who they are, where they are from and what experiences they’ve had.
“A focus on digital inclusion brings together so many things that we are passionate about at Centric: technology, connectedness, inclusivity, and helping our communities,” says Jennifer Barnes, St. Louis Practice Lead. “Focusing on digital inclusion allows us to truly bring our values and experience as a company to the very communities in which we live. It’s helping bring a singular focus to how we engage with and support the communities we call home.”
As we began our research, we created a list of organizations across the country dedicated to helping break down the digital divide and providing relief during COVID-19. We chose LaunchCode because it helps resolve both issues by ensuring individuals get access to both the coding education they need and the new jobs where they could use those skills.
We also chose LaunchCode because of its location — not only is its headquarters in one of our locations, but its ability to expand and work within our other locations make it a critical potential partner for our nationwide efforts.
“Centric Consulting’s sponsorship of LaunchCode’s Liftoff Program will go far in ensuring our learners have the job-readiness tools they need to enter an upwardly-mobile career in technology,” said Jeff Mazur, LaunchCode Executive Director. “We are proud to call Centric a supporter and honored to be part of their new Digital Inclusion initiative, which closely aligns with LaunchCode’s goal to provide access to opportunity for all.”
About Centric Consulting
Centric Consulting is a management consulting firm that guides you in the search for answers to complex digital, business and technology problems by asking tough questions, leading crucial conversations and blending our experts with yours. As you navigate what’s next, we can help you conquer change, optimize processes, elevate your technology, and compete in a digital world.
Headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, Centric has additional offices in Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Louisville, Miami, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa and Gurgaon, India. Centric was named one of America’s Best Management Consulting Firms by Forbes in 2019 and 2020. Visit http://www.centricconsulting.com to learn more.
About LaunchCode
Founded by Jim McKelvey, co-founder of Square, LaunchCode is a national nonprofit creating economic opportunity by adding new talent to tech ecosystems across the nation. While careers in technology have traditionally been reserved to those who can afford a four-year computer science degree, LaunchCode’s programs are free and accessible to motivated individuals who are assessed for passion, drive and aptitude rather than credentials.