Building Workforce Readiness Solutions for a US-Based Nonprofit
Rachel Dougherty
Team4Tech recently engaged employee volunteers from Davis Wright Tremaine LLP (DWT) for a Design for Impact Workshop with our US-based nonprofit partner, StreetCode Academy. Together, they developed ideas to help StreetCode better prepare its learners for current workforce expectations.
Expanding Tech Access and Exposure
StreetCode Academy is a nonprofit based in East Palo Alto, California. Despite its proximity to Silicon Valley, many of the communities StreetCode works with remain among the most under-resourced. Surrounded by the innovation economy but historically excluded from it, these communities have been disproportionately affected by the digital divide, systemic inequality, and decades of displacement driven by gentrification.
StreetCode’s mission is to empower underexposed communities to reach their full potential through meaningful engagement with computer science, technology, and entrepreneurship. Today, StreetCode reaches more than 5,000 students annually through its programming.
StreetCode has been a partner of Team4Tech for the last two years, and we were excited to deepen our partnership with StreetCode through a skills-based volunteering engagement with DWT.
StreetCode staff introducing the workshop’s design question.
Employee Volunteers Embrace Design Thinking to Propose Nonprofit Solutions
StreetCode has successfully sparked tech curiosity through its programming. But StreetCode staff recognize that today’s workforce demands a higher level of professional execution, stronger soft skills, and adaptability to tools like artificial intelligence. Exposure alone doesn’t equal career mobility, especially when learners have diverse comfort levels and valid skepticism about emerging technology.
StreetCode was looking for actionable ideas for curriculum enhancements and career-readiness frameworks that its team can refine and test in upcoming program cycles.
During the three-hour virtual workshop, Team4Tech facilitators guided DWT volunteers through the design thinking process to ideate and prototype solutions to StreetCode’s design challenge:
“How might we prepare students with the right expectations for the workforce, moving them from where they are to where they want to be?”
Volunteers collaborated with StreetCode staff to learn about their programming and the challenges learners face, asking questions to better understand the opportunities and constraints in both the programs and the communities StreetCode serves.
Volunteer deliverables included an interactive card-sorting activity and a role-play-based soft-skills training activity.
Volunteer Solutions and Recommendations
Working in small teams, volunteers delivered the following ideas and recommendations for StreetCode:
AI Card-Sorting Activity: This interactive activity can be built into existing StreetCode programming to help participants develop practical AI judgment. Learners sort cards representing different types of information from a range of industries, such as customer lists, patient symptoms, client documents, and coworker emails, into three categories: “Okay to use with AI,” “Use with Caution,” and “Never Use with AI.” A follow-up discussion, in which learners explain their reasoning, helps them understand the workforce implications of each choice.
Soft Skill Scenarios: As AI takes over more entry-level tasks, soft skills will help job seekers and students remain competitive. Skills like de-escalation, understanding an audience, emotional intelligence, and demoing or pitching a product will be increasingly valuable. Volunteers developed supplementary resources, including a decision-making model for students to use in different scenarios. Volunteers recommended that practice prompts could be incorporated into daily practice and existing programming as a short exercise.
StreetCode-led Integration Model: This four-phase model provides a suggested approach for introducing career-readiness content into existing programming. It starts lightly by integrating discussion prompts into current classes. It then builds momentum by bringing in guest speakers and industry partners, eventually scaling up to dedicated sessions and resources for resume building, interview training, portfolio development, and LinkedIn support.
Together, these ideas are modular and can be integrated into existing programming. They focus on what StreetCode can do now while giving the team a path to build upon as future programming changes over time.
The work StreetCode is doing to empower students and families with the mindset, skills, and resources to access technology and pursue opportunities in tech and entrepreneurship is inspiring, and we’re grateful for the chance to be part of the conversation. We hope these ideas can be of help and look forward to seeing what’s next for StreetCode.” — DWT Volunteer
Why Design Thinking Works for Nonprofits
Design thinking brings new voices into the conversation and helps nonprofits see opportunities they might not have seen on their own.
We are taking the ideas from the workshop and looking at how we can implement pieces of each. Sometimes it helps to get ideas from people outside the organization. It opens up possibilities that internal factors don’t limit.” — StreetCode Academy Staff
At Team4Tech, our focus is on our nonprofit partners, their missions, and the learners they serve. Our Design for Impact workshops give volunteers the chance to apply their expertise to a real nonprofit challenge and co-design alongside the organization, deepening their understanding of the local context while generating new ideas.
Unlike other organizations I have worked with, Team4Tech seemed to really care about helping not just identify an area to focus on, but finding actual solutions that could be sustainable. We really appreciate the opportunity. Organizations like ours really see the difference between someone saying that they want to help and people who are actually willing to do the work required to help. Team4Tech clearly is willing to do the work!” — StreetCode Academy Staff
We’re grateful to the DWT volunteers who dedicated their time and expertise to this workshop, and to the StreetCode team for their collaboration, insight, and ongoing partnership. We look forward to seeing how these ideas take shape and prepare StreetCode learners for future careers and long-term employment.
Team4Tech is proud to facilitate connections between volunteers and education-focused nonprofits like StreetCode Academy, improving education that ultimately prepares learners for better jobs. Our Design for Impact programming is just one example of how Team4Tech leverages skills-based volunteering to accelerate nonprofit impact globally.
