Giving Compass' Take:

• SVAcademy is an accelerated job training and apprenticeship program that was created to increase diversity in tech sales and business development in Silicon Valley. 

• How can Silicon Valley benefit form SVAcademy and more diversity? How will Silicon Valley address more leadership opportunities for people of color?

• Read about how tech companies are responding to alarming diversity numbers. 

Three figures pretty much sum up Silicon Valley’s workplace diversity problem: 2% of the overall tech workforce is African American, 3% is Latino, and only 24% overall are women, according to a recent survey from Atlassian, an industry software firm.

But SVAcademy, a new kind of accelerated job training and apprenticeship program for tech sales and business development positions, which publicly launched this week, is trying to change that, and their early results look pretty promising. It’s not quite apples-to-apples, but in an initial pilot this summer involving 31 students, 40% were African- American, Latino, or LGBTQ. All of the graduates came from lower-income or immigrant families with many located in states far beyond the Valley.

SVA is tuition free–partner companies agree to cover the educational cost of the employees it hires–and open to anyone with or without a college degree. The application process is competitive: So far, fewer than 5% of the 1,000 people who have applied have been admitted. At the same time, though, SVA’s selection process works far differently than other places.

“The most important signal that is overlooked by recruiting systems that we feel is a really good predictor of success–not just in sales, but in business leadership–is resilience and grit,” he says.

Read the full article about job training programs by Ben Paytner at Fast Company