Empowering women to pursue tech careers Millions of women in Latin America are employed in jobs that do not provide economic security or opportunities for career advancement. At the same time, nearly half of companies are unable to find skilled workers. Laboratoria is a nonprofit that addresses both of these problems, providing project-based technical skills training, professional skills training, mentoring and coaching, networking, and connections to employment opportunities to women interested in transformative careers in technology. Cisco’s initial support enabled Laboratoria to develop a learning management system to improve their student selection process, introduce new curriculum and career tracks, and gather internal data to support better business insights and decision-making. Since then, our support has enabled them to expand from Peru to Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, and work toward their goals for long-term financial viability. Creating career paths for immigrants Many immigrants to the United States face systemic barriers that leave them unemployed or working in low-wage jobs unconnected to their expertise. In the United States, 45 percent of immigrants have at least a bachelor's degree. While fully qualified for a range of careers, many of these individuals lack the connections and understanding of the U.S. job market required to succeed. Upwardly Global (UpGlo) works to eliminate employment barriers for legal, skilled immigrants and refugees to help integrate them into the professional U.S. workforce. They provide targeted professional skills training, reskilling/upskilling opportunities, industry-specific job coaching, professional English classes, and other resources. UpGlo also forges partnerships with employers to develop a pipeline to employment opportunities at a variety of companies—including Cisco. Cisco has supported UpGlo in developing a custom learning management system, refreshing their curriculum and online training modules, and creating measurement and assessment tools so UpGlo can scale their work. Laboratoria >80% of Laboratoria graduates find employment 2.7x average increase in salary Upwardly Global 60% of program participants obtain jobs in high-demand STEM fields US$67,000+ average starting salary FUTURE INTRO POWER INCLUSIVE 2021 Cisco Purpose Report | csr.cisco.com | ESG Reporting Hub 70