The power of collaboration in expanding economic opportunity

I believe that at the heart of meaningful change is the power of strategic relationships. When you collaborate with others toward a common goal, the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts.??

The Government of Canada embraced this idea when it created DIGITAL, Canada’s Global Innovation Cluster for digital technologies. DIGITAL is a not-for-profit organization that co-invests alongside Canadian companies, academic institutions, and public institutions to drive economic growth and opportunities in Canada’s digital economy.?

DIGITAL supports the Canadian Tech Talent Accelerator (CTTA) project. CTTA focuses on growing a talent pool of skilled digital workers and is led by NPower Canada in collaboration with Microsoft Canada. The Province of BC has been the key factor, providing two critical investments to enable the delivery of CTTA throughout British Columbia. A third-party report assessing the CTTA confirmed that strong collaborations like this deliver measurable and scalable change.??

Focusing on a clear and common goal?

The CTTA collaborators —including the Province of British Columbia, the Government of Canada’s Sectoral Workforce Solutions, and the CIBC Foundation— share a clear and ambitious goal: create pathways to economic prosperity for systemically underserved individuals from underrepresented communities. NPower Canada and Microsoft believe workforce development programs that provide in demand digital and professional skills are foundational to success.??

NPower Canada specifically supports women, newcomers, Indigenous people, and members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community. In addition to digital skills, the program provides professional development, mentorship, and connections to employment that many of these people have been unable to tap into to succeed in the tech industry. NPower Canada also offers wraparound services like access to basic necessities, referral to mental health resources, and connections to community organizations offering additional support.?

Teaching digital and professional skills?

The CTTA project focuses on building “demand-driven” workforce skills. By bringing together educators and private and public sector organizations, CTTA partners better understand the skills, training, and other experiences employers need to fill one of the most significant talent gaps in the economy—entry-level information and communications technology (ICT) workers. In response to their findings, NPower Canada created the Junior Data Analyst (JDA) curriculum to teach the specific skills needed for these positions.???

The JDA is a tuition-free program that features hands-on learning and industry mentoring. It is highly competitive and requires previous knowledge in IT?and/or computer programming. Graduates earn the AI-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals and the IBM Data Analyst Professional certificates.?

In addition to the rigorous technical coursework, the program works directly with program-affiliated employers to identify open job opportunities and match eligible graduates based on their skill set, aptitude, and long-term career interests. Graduates also receive five years of post-program career development services for job coaching, continuing education support, networking, and industry mentorship.?

This long-term, comprehensive support shows an understanding of the challenges that those furthest from opportunity experience. It also demonstrates a real commitment to create a more diverse and inclusive workforce where everyone has the opportunity to secure meaningful work and opportunities to advance in their careers.??

Measuring impact?

NPower Canada’s external evaluator, Blueprint, has followed the program since its inception. Their analysis looked at outcomes from the first two years of the JDA.??

The results tell us we are on to something.??

• NPower Canada is reaching the right people. At least 83% of JDA participants identify as BIPOC. Up to 12% belong to the 2SLGBTQI+ community, 5% have a disability, 27% receive public benefits, and 58% are either refugees or immigrants.?

• Students are inspired to complete the intermediate program. 85% of JDA candidates have completed the program (exceeding NPower Canada’s target of 80%).?

• The skills match the job opportunities. 83% of JDA graduates found employment specific to their new digital skills and/or enrolled in higher education within 6 months of program completion. ???? ?

• One finding, though, truly speaks to the potential to build a more diverse digital talent pipeline. Blueprint found that there was no clear difference in hiring outcomes between those who identify as a member of an underrepresented priority group and those who do not. This tells us that with essential digital skills and equal opportunities, we can remove some of the barriers that keep people out of the workforce.?

These numbers are impressive, but it’s more powerful to hear about the program’s impact from the graduates themselves.? Several graduates shared their challenges and successes with the JDA program in the videos below:

English version

French version

Scaling the program?

According to?Microsoft Canada’s 2022 “Economic and Social Impact Report,” over 70 percent of Canadian jobs require basic digital skills, and the need is growing, especially as we embark on this new era of AI. That’s a big number. Change will require skilling opportunities across a diverse and complex ecosystem.??

Theories of change often involve identifying and targeting specific pressure points that can lead to significant shifts in a system. These pressure points are areas where targeted interventions can effectively disrupt the status quo and catalyze change. The JDA program is the perfect example of a pressure point. It doesn’t affect the entire system, but it does demonstrate that intermediate-level digital skilling brings non-traditional talent into the workforce—not for survival jobs, but for well-paying, meaningful and sustainable careers.?

Microsoft?Canada?and?NPower?Canada have used Blueprint’s findings and recommendations to create a roadmap on how best to scale successful elements of the program. NPower Canada expanded into small and medium-sized communities in the six provinces it serves, offering its programs and employment support in both French and English for Quebec and Nova Scotia job-seekers. They are also exploring emerging industries such as AI, cybersecurity, and green jobs/sustainability. For example, in response to evolving skilling demands, NPower Canada recently launched an intermediate-level Security Operations Analysts Program.??

We are living in a groundbreaking tech transformation driven by new generative AI capabilities. We must ensure that—from the start—everyone can learn and use AI. Strategic relationships that involve collaborations between governments, education institutions, industry, and civil society will be core to delivering digital skilling on a scale that reaches every corner of society.??

The CTTA collaboration is a testament to the power of working together with public, private, and government organizations to understand their communities’ needs and create skilling initiatives that foster an inclusive digital landscape. Some communities will need basic digital and AI skills. However, a more targeted program for intermediate skills like NPower Canada’s can also be a catalyst for change. What we do know is that AI presents a once-in-a-generation chance to create equitable and fair economic opportunity for all.??