When you walk into the headquarters of the Dev/Mission office in San Francisco, there is a banner that reads “You belong here.” That’s the message that Leonardo Sosa, CEO and founder of Dev/Mission, wants young people in the community to embody when looking for employment opportunities. 

Dev/Mission’s program model focuses on young people, ages 16-24 and creating a pathway to jobs and post-secondary education within the tech industry. It runs a multi-week skills training program through a mentorship framework. As a recent grantee of the Latino Community Foundation (LCF) Nonprofit Accelerator program, Dev/Mission is hopeful to expand its services in the next five years to serve more young people and build wealth within the community. 

Giving Compass recently spoke with Sosa about his approach, the LCF Accelerator program, and how donors can invest in STEM opportunities. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Leonardo Sosa, Founder and CEO, Dev/Mission

Q: Tell me about Dev/Mission's approach, which relies on mentors, apprenticeships, and internships. Why is this crucial for success?

You can see the disparity at the education level for high schoolers who are looking for opportunities to learn and pursue STEM pathways. While 90% of parents want their students to study computer science, only 40% of high schools across the country teach any STEM subjects. When I was growing up in San Francisco in the late 80s, I was never exposed to any STEM subjects until I was 24 years old. That is one area that we wanted to tackle and find a way to get these high schoolers excited about the STEM field. 

Our program model relies heavily on mentors, and when we started this organization, everyone came in as a volunteer. We had a lot of support from the communities that I've been working with, and many friends of mine have contributed to this effort. Now, we have close to 250 volunteers supporting the organization through workshops, mentoring, helping with events, and other activities. 

We aim to train adults 16 to 24 for careers in tech so we can build wealth and prosperity in underserved communities. We tell young people in our program that we don't guarantee jobs, and we never overpromise. There are two paths available for them: Post-secondary education and employment. We're going to connect youth to those two paths, and empower them to decide which path they would like to follow. Within our employment pathways, we have fellowships, internships, and apprenticeships with partners in the tech industry. And ultimately, the goal is for them to get jobs in this field. 

Q: What have been some challenges and successes of your program?

The most significant challenge for us is that we do not receive a lot of unrestricted dollars. However, because we have tech companies -- Google, Uber, Twitter, etc. -- supporting us, there are different ways they are continuing to strengthen the work that we're doing without relying on financial support. We engage with corporate responsibility and volunteer/employee programs. Some of them have been able to help us connect with other opportunities within the company’s philanthropy program or diversity and inclusion model. We always want to make sure that we can connect with those corporate opportunities, but limited unrestricted funding remains a significant challenge.

The second challenge we're facing is now that the workforce is becoming more remote, we need to leverage and continue to expand those opportunities for our youth. We especially want to be able to create and connect students to remote jobs with companies outside of San Francisco. 

Q: You were part of LCF's Nonprofit Accelerator program. Tell me about that experience and why donors should consider funding capacity building?

Being part of the Latino Community Foundation's Latino Nonprofit Accelerator program was very exciting. We were the only San Francisco nonprofit to be selected out of a cohort of 12 nonprofit organizations. Not only did we receive unrestricted dollars, but we’re grateful for the support that came with it, such as marketing, branding, fundraising, and exposure. 

I’ve worked in the nonprofit sector for more than 25 years. I launched many new technology programs throughout that journey, but it's very different when you have the ability to understand how to approach a donor. Now we're having more conversations with other community foundations which could help us expand. 

We have also seen more volunteers join the organization since receiving the grant. In addition, LCF connected us with various resources, organizations, foundations, and philanthropic professionals. Lastly, the funding has brought more credibility to the table since our organization is now connected to the Latino Community Foundation. Essentially, this program has taken our organization to the next level at a very young age. 

Q: What equity issues do you see in the technology industry today? How is your organization working to address these?

One of the biggest challenges that I see today with respect to equity in the tech industry is ensuring that companies have the systems in place to support the work that we're doing. Many tech companies have wonderful employees that may be tech savvy, but need to start thinking about an equity approach. They need to start asking: How do I help create career opportunities for young people in this massive pipeline? There’s an equity gap right now where these opportunities aren’t available. We need to continue to take the initiative to create those opportunities by engaging in more volunteer and mentoring approaches that center around knowledge sharing. To address these gaps, dev/Mission offers what we call corporate site visits for young people in our program. Before the pandemic, young people in the program could go to a behind-the-scenes tour and attend workshops and panels where they get to socialize with technology employees who could help students understand and decide on the best path forward for them.

At the same time, when we have career panels, we ask tech companies to provide diversity within the panel. We want to see employees of color. We want to see employees that have non-traditional backgrounds. We want to see employees that are just starting in the company and some that have worked there for many years. 

Q: What would you like individual donors to know about funding STEM opportunities and/or connecting youth to these opportunities? 

Be engaged with the work that we are doing, and not from a distance. Donors can join our sessions and learn more about the work that we're doing. They can see the kids at the STEAM Hub talk with youth in the Digital Arts Music Lab Program, and learn about our Pre Apprenticeship (Bootcamp Style Program) for young adults that are struggling to find a way to belong in the tech industry. Especially now with technology, donors can be heavily involved.