New Report From Data Elevates
Building Skills Through Service
Lessons From a Veteran STEM Workforce Program
What does it take to turn veterans' experience into practical data skills? Drawing on six cohorts, this report shares lessons, challenges, and strategies to help workforce programs, educators, and veteran-serving organizations design more effective learning experiences.
Service matters to veterans. In the ICTD Program, the value of service is foundational to learning in-demand data skills for career growth.
A Scalable Program Model for Veteran STEM
Workforce Development
Veterans in Data, an initiative by Data Elevates, brings together veteran service providers, universities and community partners to help veterans build in-demand data skills for civilian careers.
Through the six-week online Impacting Communities Through Data (ICTD) Program, veterans learned Excel and Tableau, applied them to real community datasets curated by San Diego State University’s Sage Project, and presented finished dashboards to the partner.
This report draws on six cohorts, each refined with guidance from a Project Advisory Board of graduates and veteran workforce experts, and distills six lessons for organizations building scalable skills programs for veterans.
What makes this report unique?
1
Designed for veteran-serving organizations, workforce development practitioners and non-traditional educators
2
Focuses on a model tested across six program cohorts for specialized STEM skills training through service and experiential learning.
3
Highlights qualitative program insights from participant interviews, partner perspectives and trainer observations
The confidence that I felt learning new skills, it's like okay this is not as intimidating but it's doable… I can get outside of what I'm used to and just learn something different.
- Impacting Communities Through Data Program Participant
Designed Around The Barriers
Veterans Navigate
Veterans don't start from the same place as a general adult learner. The program model was built to address barriers that most often keep veterans from enrolling, staying engaged and finishing.
The translation gap
Military experience doesn't always translate clearly into civilian credentials or career pathways
Sustaining engagement
Training can feel disconnected from participants' interests, experiences, and goals
Real lives, limited capacity
Work, family, and personal responsibilities can make structured training difficult to sustain
Six Lessons About Designing for the Community You Serve
Each lesson answers a specific programmatic question, detailing what we learned and how to tailor insights to supporting veterans.
01
Message the program through its value
Lead with a mission veterans recognize, a messenger they can trust, and the skills they can gain
04
Develop flexible support mechanisms
Proactive check ins and multiple ways to learn that flex around real life
02
Use projects veterans find impactful
Real, local datasets give the work a purpose, and the skills stick faster
05
Support confidence through quick wins
Small low-stakes milestones help move "I can't do this" to "I did this"
03
Set clear expectations early
Participants who commit early show up ready for the full program
06
Build community through the cohort
Shared experience creates a baseline of community
Read the Report
Available as an accessible PDF. The report may be shared and cited with attribution for educational, nonprofit and workforce development purposes.
Researchers and Practitioners Behind the ICTD Program
Data Elevates brought together program designers, data specialists and university researchers to build, evaluate and document the ICTD Program, so its lessons can travel well beyond a single cohort.
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Data and AI
for Social Impact
Veterans in Data is an initiative of Data Elevates, a social enterprise closing the gap in digital skills and access between the tech sector and communities in the US and worldwide.