09.28.23

Seattle’s Ada Developers Academy Wins $714K Federal Grant to Train Women Software Developers

Cantwell: WA expects “A 60,000 STEM worker shortfall by 2026 … We’ll never have enough workers if we don’t include more women”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) announced that the U.S. Department of Labor has awarded a $714,518 Women’s Bureau Women in Apprenticeship & Non-Traditional Occupations Grant to Seattle-based Ada Developers Academy. 

The grant program provides technical assistance to employers and labor unions to encourage employment of women in industries where they’re historically underrepresented, or where women are disproportionately concentrated in the lower-wage occupations. The program aims to help employers meet their workforce needs while bolstering women’s economic security for themselves and their families alongside the overall strength of the nation’s economy.

“In Washington state, we’re expecting a 60,000 STEM worker shortfall by 2026,” said Sen. Cantwell. “We’ll never have enough workers if we don’t include more women in STEM. This investment in Seattle’s Ada Developers Academy shows the Department of Labor is counting on young women to help grow our nation’s economy and lead in AI and other new emerging technologies.”

Founded in 2013, Ada Developers Academy graduates 96 students per cohort twice a year. To date, Ada Developers Academy’s graduates include more than 400 women and gender-expansive software developers who have earned more than $68 million in new salaries in the tech industry.

Among Ada graduates who entered the job market in 2022, 90% found full-time employment within six months of graduating, making on average more than three times higher wages (236%) than at their previous job. 

The academy aims to diversify tech by providing women and gender-expansive people the skills, experience, and community support to become professional software developers to change the face of tech. In their first year in 2013, Ada supported 16 students; in 2022, 164 students graduated from the Ada Developers Academy and 261 students have enrolled among Ada’s Seattle, Atlanta, and remote campuses. 

While the State of Washington has the second highest concentration of STEM jobs in the nation — adding more than 6,000 new computer science-related jobs every year — the state graduates about one-half as many bachelor’s degrees in these fields. According to a report by Washington STEM, by 2026, the state will have a gap of approximately?60,000 STEM workers. 

Sen. Cantwell is a strong advocate of increasing the number of women and minorities in STEM fields. The CHIPS & Science Act-- of which Sen. Cantwell was a chief architect and lead negotiator-- authorized $13 billion in STEM education funding at the National Science Foundation, representing a tripling of the NSF’s annual STEM education budget over five years. Nearly $2 billion is authorized to go to minority-serving institutions and other emerging research institutions around the country with a proven track record of helping grow a diverse workforce.

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