MISSION AND WORK

Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is at the core of all aspects of our work.  iyai+’s mission is to motivate young people to choose infrastructure careers and become tomorrow’s infrastructure leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, and skilled workforce -- with specific emphasis on increasing the interest, motivation, participation, and retention levels of historically under-represented youth – young women and people of color.    A well-documented, high-risk “people-readiness” challenge facing our critical infrastructure sectors. 

Starting from a unique “Community-Building” lens -- iyai+ programming is cross-sectoral and partnerships-based by design. Our increasingly interdependent world requires re-thinking the career-readiness” education, skills, experiences, and exposure necessary for the 21st century.  Working collaboratively, we have an opportunity to expose our youth to a much broader range of careers, personal and professional development opportunities.  Including exposure to important lifetime values (the iyai “+”) and transferable skills (good jobs creation, and entrepreneurism) that will unlock their untapped potential – respect their “learned experience”, increase their personal readiness and earning potential, leadership abilities, and active civic engagement.