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Innovating for our future

Our mission:

Empowering individuals, especially those from underrepresented and underserved communities, with a focus on young adults aged 13-18 and adults over 18. Our mission is to ignite passion and knowledge in modern-day skills such as coding, cybersecurity, business automation, and more, emphasizing the pillars of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM). Through robust partnerships with community leaders, educational institutions, government agencies, and industry pioneers, we strive to bridge the gap between the demands of the 21st-century workforce and the opportunities that await those who embrace a STEAM-driven path. With a commitment to making a difference at local, national, and global scales, our programs are designed to foster an insatiable thirst for learning, enabling participants to carve their unique routes to achievement.

Our Legacy of Impact:

Situated in Albany, NY, We Connect The Dots, Inc. has been a beacon of educational excellence and empowerment since its inception in 2013. As an esteemed non-profit organization, we are driven by our commitment to provide underserved and underrepresented youths, as well as adults, with unparalleled access to experiential learning programs centered on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM).

Milestones of Success:

Hack-A-Thon’s Global Influence: Celebrating 10 Years of Innovation Now in its 10th year, the Hack-A-Thon (formerly known as Code-a-Thon) has left an indelible mark on the global educational landscape. Each year, hundreds of students aged 13–18 from across the globe come together to tackle real-world challenges, develop innovative solutions, and showcase their creativity and technical skills. This program has significantly increased student involvement in computer science and entrepreneurship, shaping a generation of tech-savvy, solution-driven thinkers who are ready to make a difference.

Community Ambassador Program: We champion youth empowerment through our Community Ambassador Program, fostering entrepreneurial skills and leadership among students. This initiative aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG), encouraging students to think globally and act locally by creating meaningful solutions that address community needs while making an international impact.

UpSkill for Sustainable Careers: Understanding the workforce challenges faced by adults aged 18 and over, our UpSkill program equips participants with essential business and workforce skills. Focused on business automation and administration, participants gain proficiency in tools like Microsoft PowerApps, empowering them to build sustainable and thriving career paths.

Founded by visionary entrepreneur and Microsoft leader Laurie Carey, We Connect The Dots was created to bridge the pervasive digital divide experienced in many communities nationwide. Over the past decade, we’ve unlocked opportunities for students and adults from diverse regions, including Long Island, the Greater New York Metro area, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Washington, California, Illinois, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Iowa.

Our programs, rooted in STEAM education, have empowered marginalized populations—particularly those from low-income communities—enabling them to explore, learn, and excel in disciplines critical to the future workforce.

Here’s to 10 years of innovation, impact, and growth—and to the changemakers we’re inspiring for tomorrow.

REAL WORLD EXPERIENCES

Our programs provide students with the workforce settings needed to cultivate their skills and develop long-term career goals. We help students build foundational skills they can take forward into any career path. Our approach keeps our students updated on the latest technology solutions and our teachers work to bridge their knowledge with industry experts in STEAM fields. We teach and encourage innovation and creativity, driving our global presence in building the future workforce in STEAM careers.

INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS

Our platform and programs provide a combination coaching/teaching style where our student ambassadors are assessed during first engagements with an assigned career coach. Through the assessment and coaching model, we help students discover their passions. As students look to expand and discover possibilities in STEAM careers, they will have a clear understanding of what roles best align with their strengths. We offer awareness and opportunity through creative programs that bring the latest innovations to students, parents, teachers, and communities.

ACTIVE PARTNERSHIPS

Through partnerships with technology industry leaders, we will help populate STEAM related fields with qualified focused students whose hunger for continued knowledge in higher education programs will sustain the workforce of the future. These partnerships will enable our students to engage with mentors and coaches, and be actively involved in job shadowing and internships. We Connect The Dots affords students the ability to experience career opportunities and determine the right path for continued education.

We evaluate the in-demand jobs in this continuously evolving economy to create programs that teach new skills and expose participants to new types of in-demand careers that require new forms of learning. Our programs are designed with a metacognitive pedagogy approach combined with industry relevance to ensure we bring value to participates with transferable skills ready to bring immediate value to employers.

UTILIZING AN AGILE DESIGN THINKING MODEL WE DEVELOP OUR PROGRAMS IN A FIVE PHASE APPROACH.

EMPATHIZE: To understand our diverse learning populations needs and the learning outcomes we seek, what do we need to actually teach, and what the end result should look and feel like for our learners.

DEFINE: Clarify the outcomes to ensure we are on the right path before going broad and investing unnecessarily.

IDEATE: Go broad by creating lots of ideas, generating mind maps, building with a team of educators, industry experts, and students.

PROTOTYPE: Create a sample one hour workshop to test the concepts, to flesh out the flow and outcomes. Build an initial framework of curriculum that will be integrated into the full curriculum post the testing phase.

TEST: Using opportunities where we have a large audience of participants, we test our assumptions for the underlying need and address our proposed curriculum. We fail fast and learn to build a model to improve outcomes.

Learning to fail fast when things do not always go according to plan has been key to our success. We create a full lifecycle through our program model by engaging young adults we create opportunities to be a part of a positive learning experience that transforms lives.

We Connect The Dots, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.