What is the name of your organization?
Firme Coding
What is the name of your solution?
Firme Pathways
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
Trauma-informed STEAM pathway with industry mentors and select 4-month in-house fellowships for justice-impacted adults.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Los Angeles, CA, USA
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
United States
What type of organization is your solution team?
Hybrid of for-profit and nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
Justice-impacted adults face steep barriers to STEAM learning and careers: digital skill gaps, unstable internet/device access, stigma, and a lack of paid, résumé-building opportunities. In Los Angeles and surrounding counties, thousands reenter annually; nationally, about 600,000 people exit prison each year and experience unemployment rates several times higher than the general population. Traditional four-year paths and long, unpaid trainings are unrealistic for caregivers and people balancing probation, housing, and family obligations. Even when short courses exist, persistence falters without just-in-time support and a way to convert learning into credible work experience. Firme Coding addresses two root causes: (1) access to low-friction learning that fits real life (evening/weekend delivery, SMS reminders/help, plain-language materials); and (2) employability through stackable Certificates of Completion plus select 4-month in-house fellowships that yield portfolio artifacts and supervisor references.
What is your solution?
Firme Pathways is a short, stackable STEAM bridge for justice-impacted adults. Learners progress through three pillars: (1) Digital Literacy; (2) Critical Thinking with pseudocode; and (3) Intro to Coding with SwiftUI on Apple devices, each ending with a Certificate of Completion. Delivery is built for real life: evening/weekend scheduling, plain-language materials, and SMS reminders/help to reduce friction. We also teach prompt engineering with ChatGPT as a means of AI literacy for drafting, researching, and iterating responsibly. Fellows meet regularly with industry mentor pods (engineers, designers, PMs) for reviews, goals, and career exposure. After the pathway, select graduates enter a 4-month in-house fellowship to deliver scoped projects for community partners (e.g., a simple website, KPI sheet + chart, or usability report), producing portfolio artifacts and supervisor references. In 2025, we conducted comprehensive pillar sequences with measurable completion rates and industry exposure events, while formalizing mentor cadence and standardizing project templates for repeatability. We are currently drafting the in-house internship/fellowship proposal and sequencing the host scopes.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
We serve justice-impacted adults in Los Angeles and surrounding counties. Many are caregivers and first-gen learners balancing work, probation, and housing transitions. They’re underserved by programs that assume stable schedules, reliable broadband, and the ability to take unpaid roles.
How we address needs: (1) Access & fit: trauma-informed modules delivered with evening/weekend scheduling, plain-language materials, and SMS reminders/help reduce barriers to starting and persisting. (2) Skills & confidence: a three-pillar sequence Digital Literacy → Critical Thinking → Intro to Coding (SwiftUI) plus a short prompt-engineering module using ChatGPT builds practical tech and workplace skills. (3) Proof & portfolios: Certificates of Completion and select 4-month in-house fellowships produce real artifacts and supervisor references. (4) Income & mobility: fellows receive stipends/wages during select fellowships and gain credible work experience. (5) Community & persistence: industry mentor pods expand social capital and provide warm handoffs to advanced certificates or employer partners.
