Get to Know Upskill Fund
Our Vision
Converting the Underserved into Leaders
Upskill Fund serves the underserved by connecting them with quality coaching, mentoring, training and support that leads to life-changing careers in technology fields.
and software development training by job placement. This is especially critical as oftentimes our kids in underserved communities fight a constant struggle with having to balance school, hunger, poverty, and the basic needs of life. We feel no one should shoulder that burden alone!
Upskill sees a path to family sustainability by way of technology. And how we do that is by giving our underserved communities the same opportunities, the same benefits, the same training, and the same resources.
One of the most impactful offerings that we can provide to our students that really drive the message of family sustainability is giving internships and jobs to our students. Once the students complete the program, each student is offered an internship or a job with Varsity (a software development company). We do this because we want to jumpstart the experience section on their resumes to help them become more marketable in the workforce.
Our Mission
Combating Poverty and Violence
Upskill Fund is dedicated to combating poverty by providing a path of significant economic advancement for marginalized individuals through access to quality training, resources and an extensive network of mentors and employers in the tech field.
It's no secret that poverty, delinquency and violence often exist in the same space. While it's true that the path to reduction in delinquency and violence involves breaking the cycle of poverty, many existing solutions to the problem of poverty are complicated and inconsistent. But education, though a long-term solution, is always a winner in the fight against poverty.
In this day and age, technology training is a transformative option because of the intense demand for skilled workers worldwide. Upskill Fund believes technology training is absolutely essential to move society to a future state that is free of poverty and its negative effects.
Upskill Fund moves ever-closer to its vision be connecting people in underserved communities and families with quality coaching, mentoring, training and support that leads to life-changing careers in technology fields.
Benefits to donors
Upskill Fund is a 501c3 organization
Your monetary gift will provide access to approximately 30 students age 18 to 35 to be enrolled in a 6 month full-stack software development training and coding bootcamp. We reinvest $0.85 of every $1.00 directly into the development of the students with your funding covering the cost of the coding program participation, equipment and materials.
However, the partnership with your company does not end with just a monetary contribution. We want our students to be exposed to those professionals that are already where they want to be. We invite your company to pair up to 15 volunteers as mentors to our program participants. This 2 hours per month commitment does not require a lot of time from your leaders, yet is invaluable to the holistic development of our students.
Additionally, we encourage our partners to leverage these relationships as pathways to job placement opportunities. Our students are seeking internships and apprenticeship offers, and currently 70% of our participants are hired within 60 days of program completion. This will allow your company to gain early access to a diverse pipeline of future tech talent.
Our Management Team
Determined to Change Lives
Phil Henry
Chair
Phillip Henry is the co-founder of CodeX Academy. Phillip is a serial entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience. Before co-founding CodeX Academy, Phillip founded two previous startups with over $1M in valuation.
Christian Morsing
Christian has a background in the wireless testing industry, building embedded systems for manufacturing.
After mentoring various SW startups at Nashville EC, he meet Phil in 2017. Christian has been part of 2 previous software companies with Phil and then co-founded CodeX Academy in 2019.
Byron Sommardahl
Byron got his start in software engineering more than 30 years ago. But, during the past decade, Byron has began to focus his development skills on the people around him. Years of executive-level management and agile team leadership have taught him that the greatest investment any of us can make is the skill and passion we develop in others.
Our Impact Partners
Testimonials
Upskill Fund Partners With CodeX Academy
Codex Academy has been a big experience for me as an immigrant and a supposed IT expert. The last time I worked with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript was in the early 2000s and I thought that I still knew it all. Codex Academy taught me that learning is forever and it opened up to me a whole new world of stuff people do in Front End Development. I am also grateful to Brian, Phil, Reina for the help they have provided me and for their patience. Codex Academy has been a blessing and I am grateful.
Bradley Kisia
Wells Fargo
Learning with CodeX was a great decision. The mentors are patient, helpful, and go the extra mile to make sure you fully understand every level of developing. Them along with the faculty and other students treat each other like family. And that gives you a good feeling, when learning about something for the first time, to know that you’re not alone on your journey. There is always someone there to help. They are very hands on with every aspect of your learning, from the beginning to completion and your placement period afterwards. If you’re thinking of starting your coding career, I recommend CodeX Academy.
Chad Roussel
Pacific International
A year ago it was difficult to build an app or sometimes even a simple website. And now I can say thanks to Codex Academy I was hired as a Software Engineer. Trust the process and you will have the tools and skills to succeed.
Jose De La Cruz
Cisco Systems Inc
