BIT Academy

People with disabilities are among the most marginalized groups in the world and experience far greater unemployment than any other demographic. When the Americans with Disability Act became law in 1990, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities was 70%. By 2023 that number had improved to approximately a 53% unemployment rate for all people with disabilities, but for the blind and visually impaired it has remained practically unchanged. On a global scale in developing countries, according to the United Nations, people with disabilities that are working age have an 80% to 90% unemployment rate.

Despite remarkable advances in the workplace, workers with disabilities continue to be marginalized and almost always struggle with unwarranted stigma and perception around their ability “to get the job done.” Workers with disabilities are often overlooked for jobs because many employers lack the information needed to make appropriate accommodations for disabled workers. There’s a perception of mediocrity that is associated with the disabled community that BIT works to change. The disabled community struggles to obtain gainful employment because they are not given the chance. Unfortunately, making reasonable accommodations like assistive technologies in the workplace for persons with a disability is not a priority for many businesses. This keeps a pool of talented workers without the opportunity to work. 

The solution is a technical training initiative started by BIT in 2017. But the solution is not just a technological one. The success of the BIT Academy is its students. By delivering industry-relevant technical skills training, credentialing, and apprenticeship on-the-job training, BIT lifts people with disabilities from the ranks of the unemployed, helping them become the employment solution that business and industry seek. 

BIT Academy’s training courses teach the knowledge and technical skills necessary to gain industry recognized certifications, such as database administration through the Salesforce ecosystem. Using a virtual platform and innovative accessible technologies, BIT’s training courses are designed specifically for students with disabilities and have an independent study component as well as class lessons online. Training is provided at no cost which eliminates the financial barrier for many disabled persons. Since all classes are virtual, students are reached on a global scale. Students from many countries besides the United States have taken the classes. We have had students from Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal, Kenya and South Africa.

The BIT Academy gives students technical skills to become a Salesforce Administrator, and a Salesforce Platform App Builder.  BIT is the only authorized global Salesforce training provider for people with disabilities.

Students can also become a Digital Accessibility Analyst. The classes cover how to conduct a full Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 audit and plan for remediation. That audit covers a wide range of recommendations for making corporate or government web content more accessible.  These classes help students take either Salesforce certification exams or the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC) exam. 

Once students graduate from the BIT Academy Program they are encouraged to take the certification exams. Some of the students may be placed in paid positions or internships prior to them acquiring their certification. An internship may start as a 6-month contract and often leads to full time employment.

Although having industry certifications puts our candidates in a much better position to obtain employment, we still are faced with challenges of finding companies with disability hiring initiatives. To address this, BIT also works with business and industry groups to educate employers on how to create more welcoming and accessible jobs for people with disabilities. This includes ways in which jobs can be modified and the use of assistive technologies. 

BIT's efforts have shown employers that people with disabilities can make valuable contributions to the workplace and help them to achieve their business goals. Studies show that businesses benefit from hiring persons with disabilities. At the same time, the training and support BIT offers help people with disabilities emerge from poverty and gives them a chance to make a living wage. 

BIT serves historically marginalized persons with disabilities who are underrepresented, underserved and un/underemployed. BIT began working with individuals who are blind or have low-vision and has since expanded to serve professionals who are deaf/hard of hearing, are neurodivergent, have mobility disabilities, chronic illness, and more. Through innovative service delivery of industry-relevant technical skills training that leads to credentialing, these individuals increase their social and economic opportunities that fill a need for qualified professionals for the workforce. 

Individuals living with disabilities represent the largest identity group on the planet, and those who are racially diverse struggle even more. Approximately 61 million Americans have some form of disability. As people age, all have a 75% chance of experiencing some type of disability. BIT’s programs have been specifically designed by people who have a disability themselves to meet the needs of our target population – young adults and adults with some form of disability.

The BIT Academy goes beyond basic job preparation and acquisition skills by teaching interviewing techniques and resume-building and by paving the way into the technical professional ranks for workers with disabilities via high-level certification programs in Salesforce Administration, and Accessibility Audits. This credentialing significantly improves career and educational opportunities for workers with disabilities. 

Individuals passing any of the certifications can either go into the BIT Apprenticeship program and work for BIT on contracted projects (US citizens) or be hired directly by companies BIT works with (anyone globally). BIT offers a pair of US National Registered Apprenticeship initiatives that perfectly complement our array of courses. These programs have been meticulously crafted to offer students an opportunity to apply the theoretical knowledge gained from our Salesforce Admin and Digital Accessibility courses to real-world scenarios. Apprentices engaged in these programs collaborate closely with our project leads, playing an integral role in meeting our client commitments. Our Registered Apprenticeship programs are the only two national programs for the blind and visually impaired recognized by the US Department of Labor. The technical training and professional development support that BIT offers disabled individuals leads to gainful employment that breaks down barriers, builds welcoming inclusive workplaces, and secures financial independence for this underrepresented community. 

The BIT team is uniquely qualified to lead this innovative program. All of BIT’s staff have a vision impairment or another disability and has struggled with the same issues in acquiring equitable employment as the blind and visually impaired (BVI) and disabled community at large. BIT instructors have completed Salesforce training and have also worked in mainstream technical jobs where they have faced the challenges disabled people deal with daily. They are familiar with the barriers disabled persons face in the workplace.

Mike Hess, BIT’s Executive Director and founder has been legally blind since early childhood and eventually lost all vision. He worked in the IT field for 20 years where he found himself the “token blind guy.” It was there that he realized that he could make a difference. His experience as a person with a disability in a technology field led him to start BIT with the goal of increasing the representation and reducing the misconceptions about persons with disabilities. His contacts and networks and those of board members, advisory members and other community contacts bring many corporate players to the table and BIT’s reputation for getting people placed in jobs is a main reason why BIT has been so successful.

Many staff members have been hired after going through the BIT Academy certification programs and have a role in developing and changing the expanding class offerings, developing curriculum and outlines for additional workshops offered to all candidates. They have also been involved in developing the on-the-job training and managing workflow and deliverables for the apprenticeship programs and professional services projects. The classes are constantly being evaluated with feedback from students and changes have been made several times based on those recommendations.

BIT was founded in 2013 to get people who were blind or visually impaired workforce development skills and help place them in jobs. The goals were also to educate the business community about the steps needed to make the work environment more accessible. The BIT Academy was started in 2017 and over the years, BIT has built a successful training model that targets the whole disability community to provide instruction leading to in-demand certifications in the technology sector with the end goal of job placement. 

BIT is the only organization that provides the disability community with Salesforce training on a global basis and we have been their preferred training provider since 2019. Since inception BIT has provided job preparation services to more than 600 candidates and successfully placed more than 100 in meaningful employment in the technology sector with a 97% retention rate after 12 months.  BIT Apprenticeship program received its national standards designation in November 2021 and of the 34 apprentices in the program currently, 16 are from countries outside the United States. Here is a video of one person from Kenya that attended the BIT Academy recently. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7ei4gBV1ME

BIT has engaged with over 7,000 community and business individuals who’ve participated in BIT educational workshops to provide guidance on how to create welcoming and inclusive workplaces and how to change perceptions and assumptions about employees with disabilities. BIT’s consulting and programming efforts have shown employers that people with disabilities can make valuable contributions to the workplace and help them to achieve their business goals. At the same time, the training and support BIT offers has helped people emerge from poverty and given them a chance to make a living wage. BIT has a staff of 9 full-time and 34 part-time contractors and  volunteers that in 2023 provided over 2,500 hours of service.

BIT is applying to Solve for support in specific areas. Our goal is to expand BIT Academy programming into other global communities and scale offerings to include additional countries beyond those currently served. We’d like to develop infrastructure to expand into the African and European time zones and/or India where up to 75 million persons have a disability of some kind.

BIT will need to work with local staff in these new areas to research the disability community to understand how BIT’s programming needs to be modified to address local needs in a culturally sensitive manner, to build partnerships and networks for delivery of instruction and preparation for certification exams, and placement of BIT graduates into internships and gainful employment in the technology industry. We will also need to hire instructors in those time zones.

We believe SOLVE can help us scale BIT Academy to have a greater impact in communities where the need and the opportunity exist to provide technical training and support services to the disability community. This will require financial support and strong viable partnerships. 

We believe the MIT Solve Challenge can assist BIT in several ways. As BIT seeks to expand and scale its work, we would benefit from guidance on product and service distribution, using social and global media to market our initiative to a broader audience. We also would like to develop tools that can help us measure the impact of our work. Solve can provide guidance on efficient methods to collect and use data to evaluate our products (delivering technical training and job placement support to disabled persons and consulting with business and industry to create more inclusive workplaces where persons with disabilities may succeed). In addition, as BIT grows and expands its initiative, we want to provide our board members with tools that develop their skills and strengthen their effectiveness in strategic planning, fundraising, and decision-making as they guide the organization into the future.

While solutions that address employment inequities for the disabled community are not new, BIT’s innovative model for delivery of industry-relevant technical skills training focuses on a three phased approach to employment: education, preparation, and opportunity. People with disabilities may have access to education and preparation, but what is lacking are the job opportunities. That is where BIT is most successful, providing those opportunities through partnerships with corporations, foundations and government entities that support and embrace this mission by providing funding and employment placements.

BIT’s solution of linking the disabled community to in-demand technical training and education and professional skills development while engaging with corporate leadership to create awareness of the value of an inclusive and welcoming workplace has the potential for big impact across the technology sector, and across the larger economic landscape. As disabled people enter the workplace and become financially independent, they reduce unemployment and secure their family’s future. The broad advantageous social and economic implications cannot be ignored.

BIT’s theory of change is that with proper education, training, and career opportunities, people with disabilities can succeed in the workplace, and that untapped talent pools contribute vital resources to the socio-cultural and economic landscape. With in-demand training and education, career development support, and employers who understand the value that disabled workers can provide and who create inclusive and welcoming workplaces, people with disabilities can be productive workers and become independent and financially secure. This belief guides BIT’s collaborative strategies, so we activate appropriate networks to meet agency and sector goals. 

Some of BIT’s partnerships have included Davita, FirstBank, Salesforce, Enquiron, Envision, Charles Swab, Colorado Department of Labor, and Google where BIT helps to create jobs for qualified candidates, helps employers make the workplace and corporate culture welcoming and inclusive, and prepares the workplace for potential employees. 

We serve all professionals with disabilities. Blind Institute of Technology and the BIT Academy began working with individuals who are blind or have low-vision and have since expanded to serve those with all disabilities.  Our mission is and has always been to stop the revolving door of not being able to get a job without experience and not being able to get experience due to workplace barriers to entry.

BIT enrolls students in technical courses and provides training and support to completion. Candidates then prepare to take certification exams and once they are certified, and sometimes before certification, they are hired into paid positions in their technology field. Some students are placed into Apprenticeship programs before being hired into permanent positions with employers. BIT’s Registered Apprenticeship Programs are the only two national programs for the blind and visually impaired recognized by the US Department of Labor.  Due in large part to BIT’s work to educate employers in how to create welcoming, inclusive workplaces that provide accommodations to disabled workers, BIT graduates experience a successful transition into employment with a 97% job retention rate after one year of employment. Salaries are competitive, helping establish personal and financial independence for the workers and their families, in this way creating long-term socio-economic stability. This helps build a sustainable and flourishing local economy with positive impacts that ripple across the broader economic landscape.

BIT Academy’s impact goal is straightforward: Reduce the excessively high unemployment in the disabled community. This aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals of “reduced inequality within and among countries” and “promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic grown, full and productive employment and decent work for all.” BIT’s solution achieves this by:

• Upskilling and reskilling professionals with disabilities to qualify for well-paying jobs in the technology sector that lead to career mobility. Our training courses teach the knowledge and skills necessary to gain industry recognized certifications in IT and related fields, such as database administration through the Salesforce ecosystem, computer networking, cloud computing, project management, business applications, and more. All courses have an independent study component as well as class lessons with our instructors. 
• Providing professional development workshops that help candidates with interviewing skills, prepare resumes that are noticed, effectively communicate to make a positive impression from the first interaction through employment, and gain familiarity with remote meeting platforms and their accessibility features.  BIT offers skills that professionals need to succeed.
• Helping candidates gain professional experience via paid internships/apprenticeships and meaningful, gainful employment in the technology sector.

Because BIT provides technical training, it inherently uses technology to address and solve the problem of employment inequity for the disability community. As its core mission, BIT Academy trains individuals to use current workplace technology and assists them in earning certifications in Salesforce software and in Digital Accessibility Audits. The Digital Accessibility Audits assess a business’s websites to identify barriers that make them difficult for disabled users to access and utilize. BIT students employ assistive technology to complete their studies. 

Salesforce is one of the most accessible business software platforms out there. It uses "a11y" (pronounced "A-eleven-Y") approach. This is a globally recognized abbreviation for "accessibility," designed to be more compact for social media character limits. The "11" in the middle stems from software engineering conventions that shorten long words by substituting the number of "middle" letters in a word — in this case, 11. In recent years, a11y has gained momentum outside of the technical realm to represent the broader movement of accessibility and diversity inclusion. Salesforce's commitment to inclusion generates product excellence and they design for difference, infusing equity into their products and services from the ground up. They use inclusive product design as an element to break the cycle of exclusion, creating products, services, and experiences that users of all capabilities can access. 

BIT uses AI to review and evaluate student applications to ensure more equity in the selection process of program participants. In working with employers to identify ways to build a workplace that meets the needs of disabled employees, and which is inclusive and welcoming, BIT promotes the use of assistive technologies to provide training to disabled persons as well as in the workplace to facilitate their success. In short, BIT uses technology to benefit disabled people and the employers who hire them. When BIT Academy students acquire the technical skills needed to become valuable members of the workforce, and when businesses recognize the value that disabled workers add to the organization and the positive impact they have on the bottom line, the solution has worked.

9 fulltime staff

34 contractors

We have been working on the BIT Academy with Salesforce for 5 years.

To date, education and awareness has been the main vehicle by which BIT advances equity for all people with disabilities. BIT has learned that it can never assume that corporations understand what diversity, inclusion, equity, and anti-racism is. BIT facilitates discussions around unconscious bias and how assistive technology allows for greater access to professional level positions for people with disabilities, thereby reducing the attainment gap. BIT was founded to increase equitable access in the workplace, and this ideology permeates all we do at BIT. To have a racial and ethnic diversity voice within leadership positions, BIT has specifically recruited people who identify as BIPOC for board positions. BIT’s small board includes one African American and two Latinos. BIT also has an Advisory committee that includes people who are blind or visually impaired.

As mentioned above, BIT’s executive director has been blind from an early age. Our administrative and instructional staff are trained, certified, and experienced in their fields. We believe that accessibility comes with not only accommodation, but with inclusion. Classes are focused on meeting the needs of professionals with disabilities and are delivered by professionals with disabilities. We use evidence-based teaching methods and have a proven history of finding placement for students who complete our programs. 

To ensure we are meeting the diverse needs of all our stakeholders, BIT maintains open communication among staff and constituents at all levels of the organization to ensure their perspectives are represented in our programming and integrated into any program modifications resulting from surveys, interviews, and staff and participant observations during the year. BIT has representation of its target population on its staff. All BIT staff except one have some form of disability. Staff have been hired after going through the BIT Academy certification programs and have a role in developing and changing the expanding class offerings, developing curriculum and outlines for additional workshops offered to all candidates. They have also been involved in developing the on-the-job training and managing workflow and deliverables for the apprenticeship programs. The classes are constantly being evaluated with feedback from students and changes have been made several times based on those recommendations. 

In 2019, BIT’s Executive Director was recognized as an Inclusive Leader in the Nonprofit Sector at the GlobalMindED conference which has a mission to create equity across the education, employment, and economic mobility pipeline. This recognition highlights leaders making a difference for all underrepresented populations by helping employers to deploy actionable items to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. BIT's reputation in making a difference for women, people of color, First Gen to College, and underrepresented populations continues to inform and shape other efforts in the disability space.

In addition, BIT’s strategic partnership with Salesforce underscores our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. In 2019, Salesforce introduced a goal to have 50% of their U.S. workforce be made up of underrepresented groups (women, Black, Latinx, indigenous, multiracial, LGBTQ+ employees, people with disabilities, and veterans) by 2023 as well as continuing to increase representation around the globe. In early 2022 they reached their US workforce goal.

Our business model is both business to business and business to consumer. It is different from most nonprofits in that we employ an earned income or fee for service funding model to support the number of people that are hired into our apprenticeship program or who are placed in employment through BIT to work in other corporate settings for a specific project or for a limited amount of time.

BIT builds mutually beneficial relationships that power our work. We partner with corporations, government agencies, and community-based organizations who need our services and are willing to take a risk by hiring a person with disability, who may need some accommodations to do the job but will be a great employee who will get the job done.

BIT has varied funding sources. As a nonprofit we receive grants and donations from individuals. We put on events that have corporate and individual sponsorships as well as individual support. These events also bring awareness to our mission and the benefit that our BIT Academy brings to the disability community. Job placements have come from corporations that attend the events. BIT also acts as a nonprofit job placement agency so that corporations can try out employees in part-time or full time contract work with the end goal of getting people placed in full time work as an employee of the company. This earned revenue comes from people that are hired either as a BIT apprentice or hired directly by BIT and placed in a corporation after they complete the BIT Academy.

Earned revenue in 2023:

Accessibility Audit Services $96,164

Salesforce Project Services $192,845

Professional Staffing Services $314,592

BIT also received:

Foundation & Government Grants $270,950 (Comcast $100,000, Cognizant $50,000)

Special Events $116,000 (Salesforce is the main sponsor of events - $25,000 and also donates an additional $50,000 on an annual basis)