Kathleen Finch has always had a knack for design and enjoyed creating clothing and home good items for public consumption.  This led her to many years as a textile designer with a major department store chain. As technology continued to evolve, so too did Kathleen’s interest in applying emerging tech to her creative skills.

It wasn’t long before Kathleen discovered BrainStation, a tech career accelerator based in her native Miami. BrainStation offers a series of bootcamps designed to help students gain the skills they need to succeed in the digital age. One such bootcamp, UX Design, put Kathleen on the path to a new career.

“Kathleen really embraced the program, which not only funded her tuition, but put her in touch with local employers as well,” said Terri-Ann Brown of Miami Tech Works. “We were proud to help her launch a new career in the field of UX Design.”

Since completing her 12-week program, Finch, the subject of a recent profile, has exchanged the world of retail for new opportunities to bring creativity to the world of clean energy. She recently accepted a career opportunity with NextEra Energy, a capital infrastructure investor that works towards achieving America’s energy independence. The position allows her the opportunity to put her recently acquired UX design skills to good use alongside the emerging field of artificial intelligence.

Her training at BrainStation was made possible through the Miami Tech Works initiative, which was established in 2022 through the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Good Jobs Challenge (GJC). The award provided Miami Dade College with $10 million in multi-year funding to establish a technology hub in South Florida, focused on workforce training for historically underserved communities.

With support from over 30 employers and managed by a large, Hispanic-serving four-year institution, EDA’s investment in Miami Tech Works supports an inclusive workforce training program helping students gain industry certifications that lead to quality, good-paying jobs.

While the award was originally focused on cybersecurity, administrators have adapted their curricula to meet market needs in a rapidly changing tech ecosystem. Programs in such areas as artificial intelligence (AI), software engineering, project management and more are all in the course catalog. GJC funding has allowed 350 students to earn their associate’s degree, with many now on track to completing their bachelor’s degree as well.

GJC funding is supporting wraparound services as well, helping students buy books and other course materials, providing new laptops, and meeting their transportation needs with bus passes and gas cards. It has also created a new on-staff position dedicated to ensuring that students stay on track to complete their degree and providing them with job interview skills and training scenarios.

“Over the last two years, I’ve been excited to see how the program has taken off and had such a positive impact for so many people here in our community,” said Brown, who was recently interviewed by Opportunity Miami. “We’ll soon be applying for Round 2 funding, looking to expand our training opportunities even more.”

Looking ahead, MTW will continue to expand its AI program with an additional focus on infrastructure and green jobs. They will also expand their working group programs, which ask students to develop pilot projects to help employers develop a pipeline of new tech talent ready to go to work.

Kathleen is a star example of how BrainStation is working to create onramps to the tech industry in historically underserved communities. Stories like hers permeate the EDA community and are helping inspire a new generation of industry leaders.

To read other success stories, please visit eda.gov.