Sabio Enterprises, Inc.

We are going to train South LA Latino and African American young adults to become exceptional creators using web technology and film.

Sabio will train unemployed, underemployed and underrepresented individuals from LA, via an accelerated learning program, to enter the technology sector so that they can participate in today's high-tech economy. We will utilize an immersive boot camp environment to create a workforce that sets the standard for entry level technologists. Sabio’s training program will simultaneously serve to cure the current imbalance in the existing technology workforce, which suffers from a largely homogeneous make up. This training can be completed in as little as 3 months. Other areas of the country are having great success in producing employable talent in this same time. With Sabio, LA can have a program of its own. Just 7 years from now there will be 1 Million technology jobs that will go unfilled because we do not have a properly trained workforce. This represents $500 Billion in wages that Sabio will bring to LA by training Los Angelinos to fill these jobs. The Bay Area Council Economic Institute’s Local Jobs Multiplier indicates that for every 1 high-tech job created 4.3 other jobs are created. Therefore, developing and strengthening the area’s high-tech sector will have a significant impact in the local economy by promoting growth. However, we do not have to wait 7 years to start taking advantage of the lucrative salaries in the high-tech sector. In fact, we do not even have wait the years it takes colleges and universities to produce this talent. Sabio graduates can fill the many currently available positions. Sabio’s training staff will be seasoned professionals currently exercising their programming skills. More specifically, they will also have a proven history of successfully mentoring entry level programmers. Our training will be conducted in a format that is best described as a “bootcamp.” This format will approximate the intensive nature of a startup and prepare our trainees for the most rigorous environments. Our official training hours will be conducted 5 days a week and over the course of three to four months. Another key differentiating aspect of the Sabio program is its immersive environment. Our training facility will be co-located with other high-tech startups. Throughout the training program the trainees will be deliberately exposed to real world professionals, allowing them to build their network of contacts and be uniquely prepared to enter the tech workforce. By training unemployed, underemployed, and underrepresented individuals that live in LA, Sabio directly impacts all the metrics noted in the LA2050 Report for employment and income. Many careers in technology have starting salaries that are higher than the median income for individuals. This is more pronounced when comparing the median incomes of Latinos and African Americans. In these cases, an entry level tech salary can match that of an entire household of said group. These salaries allow one working adult to earn approximately 164% of the income need to live comfortably in a household of one. This one adult will also be able to support a family of four within 2-3 years of completing the Sabio training program. This is possible because of the unique advancement opportunities in the high-tech sector that place Sabio trainees on a path to earn $100,000 a year within 5 years of completing the program. Another aspect of the high-tech sector that is important to consider is its extremely low unemployment rate. Varying reports indicate that the unemployment rate for the high-tech sector is between 2% and 4%, which is approximately half the national unemployment rate, and 33% of LA County’s. Building an economy whose job base is concentrated in a sector with low unemployment naturally brings the overall unemployment rate down. The nature of the services we will provide will directly decrease the unemployment and underemployment rates in LA. Our strong focus on the bottom quintile of the wealth distribution graph will have a great impact in the area as we will be serving to raise the lowest end of the spectrum. Sabio graduates will enter the high skilled workforce, move off the unemployment rolls and secure an economically advantageous career. Furthermore, a survey from the Kauffman Foundation found that Latinos and African Americans are highly inclined to start new businesses at a rate of 64% and 63% respectively. Therefore, in empowering our trainees with the technical skills necessary to build and execute on their ideas, we will actually be complimenting their already established desires to start new businesses. The technical training that will be provided by Sabio will allow Latinos, African Americans and women to overcome some of the existing barriers that they face in starting a new business. Facilitating their success in building their own businesses will create a synergistic and positive cyclical affect in creating more technology based, minority owned and minority driven companies that create more high quality jobs in LA