Urban Jelly is an education program that teaches low-income high school students computer programming and entrepreneur business management skills.

Students initially learn through course work, which they then put into practice by running their own student-led web design company.

Urban Jelly’s mission is to provide low-income students with access and the opportunity to be part of the innovation economy.

We believe that by enabling participants to gain marketable innovation-related skills, confidence and inspiration through our program, the likelihood for them to then apply, enroll and graduate from a top-tier University dramatically increases.

Needs Being Addressed

Wealth Gap

The net present value (NPV) of lifetime income difference between top-tier college and high-school degree recipient (~$550K) is almost 2x the difference of a non-competitive college education and high school degree (~$250K).

Enrollment Gap

Of the student body in top tier colleges, 3% are from families in the lowest socioeconomic status quartile, and 10% are from the bottom half of the socioeconomic status distribution.

Perception Gap

Qualified low-income applicants tend to not apply to top-tier colleges.  For the applicant class in 2008, there were more than 5,000 low-income high schools that had at least one student who had the credentials but did not apply to Harvard.

STEM Gap

The % of STEM related college students from low-income or minority backgrounds has been historically very low.

College Diversity Demand

Many public and major private institutions have programs to increase the representation of students from low-income families.

If you or your organization is interested in being part of the solution, please send us an email to: info@springworks.org.