What is The Marcy Lab School?

Based in Brooklyn, New York, The Marcy Lab School offers intensive, one-year fellowship programs in Software Engineering and Data Analytics. They help learners unlock the skills, network, and habits needed to launch a financially rewarding career in tech.

The Marcy Lab School was founded with one clear and critical mission: to create an alternative pathway to high-growth technology careers for young adults from underestimated backgrounds. They provide their students with technical training, leadership development, and direct access to employment opportunities in some of the fastest-growing sectors of the global economy. In doing so, they create economic mobility for their students and create one of the strongest pipelines of diverse engineering talent in the country.

Why did the Goodman Family Foundation invest?

Each year, seven million low-income families take on the risk and financial burden of enrolling in traditional higher education based on the belief that a college degree is pivotal for career success. However, research shows that college is increasingly not the best pathway to family-sustaining wages for many low-income students and students of color. Only 34% of Black & Latinx students who attend college will graduate in four years and over 50% will default on a student loan payment within ten years of signing a promissory note. Moreover, while the cost of attendance has doubled over the past 20 years, the median salary for bachelor's degree graduates has decreased by 4% in the same period of time.

The Goodman Family Foundation seeks to fund and scale innovative alternatives to the four-year degree as part of our wage-building initiatives portfolio. The Marcy Lab School’s results even just 3 years into their operations are producing wildly impressive results — with graduates of their one-year college alternative program earning starting salaries on par with that of elite four-year degree institutions (just above $100,000). We are proud to provide The Marcy Lab School with $600,000 in a general operating support grant to continue to innovate within their model. Our grant dollars will specifically help support the development and implementation of a new data analytics curriculum and the provision of supportive services to ensure student success and retention.

What impact are we hoping to achieve?

The Marcy Lab School has had strong success with its initial software engineering program, with now 70+ graduates earning $100K+ median starting salaries in the greater New York City area. As they continue to innovate and pilot ways to cost-effectively scale, part of that journey is expanding its program offerings. Specifically the impact we’re tracking with our grant support includes:

• Near-term: Our grant will help support the development of a new Data Analytics curriculum track, to diversify their offerings beyond Software Engineering.

• Long-term: The Marcy Lab School’s goal is to double its cohort size year over year until reaching a steady state of 400-500 students per year, with a focus on long-term sustainability. The Marcy Lab School is piloting an earned revenue model by engaging in paid partnerships with various employers. In the next five years, they aim to have this employer partnership model account for 33% of future revenue.