‘Time to expand what we teach.’ Modesto gives tech school $100k to offer free skills course
Bay Valley Tech, a Modesto-based coding academy, has received a $100,000 city grant to launch a digital design course for local residents.
Modesto City Council members approved the community development block grant at a Nov. 9 meeting. It is funded with federal CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act money given to the city.
Philip Lan, the founder of Bay Valley Tech, said the grant and program developed from ongoing discussions with city staff and council members and was spearheaded by the city’s economic development department.
“The city and (BVT) have been looking at ways to partner for quite a while,” Lan said. “They’ve been diligently looking at opportunities and they brought this to the table.”
With the grant money, Bay Valley Tech will launch a free 16-week digital design-focused course for local residents. In total, the city’s funds will support 30 students, either in one or multiple course cohorts. In the class, students will learn the principles of graphic design, coding and front-end web development, among other topics.
Unlike Bay Valley Tech’s traditional coding and software development courses, the new class will be shorter and teach students a broader variety of skills. Lan said that as tech jobs diversify, workers with a greater range of skills will be at an advantage, and BVT’s new course seeks to be a leg up.
Students will also have access to connections in the local tech industry, as well as support to help them find internships and eventually full-time positions.
“Employers need multiple, sort of interrelated skill sets,” Lan said of the decision to focus the course on digital design skills. “Companies that hire software developers hire digital marketers, digital designers, etc., so we see that we’re training hundreds and hundreds of developers already, and companies are going to need designers as well ... so it was time to expand what we teach.”
More information about registration for the digital design courses will be released in the next few months, Lan said. In the meantime, students still can sign up for spots in BVT’s software development courses, with new cohorts starting in December and January.
This story was produced with financial support from the Stanislaus Community Foundation, along with the GroundTruth Project’s Report for America initiative. The Modesto Bee maintains full editorial control of this work.
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