T-Mobile Retrunship Program Women in the workplace

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A T-Mobile employee talks about how the company’s expanded TechX Returnship program helped him find full-time work and a new career focus after returning to civilian life.

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“Returning to civilian life was a bit of a challenge since I joined the military at quite a young age. And, you know, working in the military was pretty much all I knew.”

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Alex Asuncion dedicated his life to serving in the United States Air Force as a cyber system operator. When he decided he wanted to transfer to part-time status with the Air Force Reserves after more than five years in active duty, he hoped to do some soul searching.

Alex says he wanted to change his career focus from purely technical to something in business management. But mix in some time off to go back to school with a global pandemic, and he says the job market wasn’t exactly welcoming him with open arms. In fact, <a href="https://www.veterans.senate.gov/newsroom/news/sens-moran-tester-introduce-legislation-to-tackle-veteran-unemployment-during-covid-19-pandemic">the veteran unemployment rate</a> across the entire country saw a significant rise from 3.1 percent in 2019 to 11.7 percent in 2020.

“I graduated with my MBA in May 2020,” says Alex, “but with the ongoing COVID pandemic it was quite difficult to get a job, especially with my work experience being mostly in the technical realm.

That’s when Alex learned about the <a href="https://www.reachire.com/hiring-partners/partner-brand-t-mobile">T-Mobile TechX Returnship program</a>.

The program made some big changes to between its pilot that began in 2019 and its second cohort in 2020 to create more inclusivity for those finding it challenging to re-enter the workforce after a career break. Originally a program that served women through its partnership with <a href="https://www.reachire.com/">reacHIRE</a>, an organization that offers  a path into leadership roles for women in tech after time off to care for family or other personal reasons, T-Mobile extended the  six-month, full-time, paid return-to-work program from six to 26 participants in roles beyond just technology, and also began to accept applications from men, primarily to reach veterans in need.

“The positive results from the Returnship pilot and the profound impact it has had on our Returnship graduates led us to broadening the scope of the partnership across multiple technology organizations,” said T-Mobile’s Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer Brian King, who sponsors the program. “With this diverse applicant pool of 75 percent women in tech, 74 percent people of color and 4.5 percent veterans, we are now setting our sights on going even bigger in the future!”

The program’s next cohort will expand to 37 roles across technology, HR, consumer markets and finance that offer a chance to gain relevant work skills and experiences through challenging projects, assignments and training, all while building a professional network and providing ongoing coaching and mentorship to potentially lead to full-time or extended contracting roles at T-Mobile. Alex says after graduating from the program, he was able to find the right full-time role as a technical project manager with the company’s Technology Project Management Office group.

T-Mobile has shown its commitment to honoring those who have served by offering active military, veterans and their families <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/military-discount-plans">it’s best discount on family plans</a>, but the company is also focused on its employees by committing to hire 10,000 military veterans and their spouses by 2023. Inclusive of veterans and veteran spouses the Un-carrier brought on board with the Sprint merger, the company has announced <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/militaryappreciationmonth2021">it’s over halfway</a> to meeting that goal.

And as the Returnship program is actively seeking applicants for its third and largest yet cohort starting January 2022, Alex spoke with us from his home in San Diego about his story, and explains why he thinks the program is an invaluable service to veterans like himself and for people who simply have <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/successful-returnship-program-returns-2022">taken a career break and need some support to break back in</a>.

This opportunity is a six-month, full-time, paid return-to-work program in Washington, Kansas, Virginia, New Jersey, Georgia, Texas, Pennsylvania, California and Colorado. There’s a total 37 spots available for a mix of in-person, hybrid and fully remote roles. Recruiting will continue through December 9 for candidates with a variety of skill sets for the next cohort that starts in January 2022. At the end of the program, you may be eligible for full-time or extended contracting work at T-Mobile, but it is not guaranteed. Hear from non-veterans graduates who attended the program as well.

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Tell us a little about your journey from the military to when you first took a step back into civilian life.

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I enlisted with the United States Air Force back in 2011 and was assigned as a cyber system operator, where I was in charge of ensuring that the Air Force network was safe and secure from any network attacks or threats. And while I was on active duty, I had some opportunities to support several missions across the country. But the majority of my career was spent at Langley Air Force base in Southern Virginia. In 2016, I decided to transition out of active duty and move to more of a part-time military status with the Air Force Reserves.

When you decided to transfer to part-time status with the Air Force Reserves, how did you come to realize you wanted to refocus your career and what challenges did you face?

When I got out of active duty, I was offered an opportunity to work as a contractor in the government space and to continue in a similar line of work from what I was doing in active duty, primarily in IT security. A few years later in that role, I decided that I wanted to make that break out of IT and be in a role that was less technical. So, in 2018, I decided to pursue my master’s in business administration at the University of San Diego.

How did you first come to learn about The T-Mobile Returnship, and what was the program like?

I was introduced to The Returnship at T-Mobile through this veteran hiring program called <a href="https://www.hiringourheroes.org/">Hiring Our Heroes.</a> And I’m so glad that I was! The Returnship was just an amazing program that not only gave me an opportunity to work for a great company, but also provided me mentorship and just that much needed experience that allowed me to be more confident and knowledgeable in the role that I was trying to pursue. I know several veterans like myself that have considered a career shift, which could be challenging due to a lack of opportunities. But when a company like T-Mobile partners with veteran organizations, it’s just really a win-win on both sides. A company gets someone that’s disciplined and has experience of being a leader, while the veteran gets a chance to gain that much needed experience for that role that they’re trying to pursue.

So how’s it going living the Magenta life?

My life so far with T-Mobile has just been just amazing. The culture here is exactly what I was looking for and everyone here has been so supportive of me, including my managers and my peers. Currently, I’m leading several projects for the one ID migration, which would allow all former Sprint employees to be fully integrated with T-Mobile. My career at T-Mobile is still very young, but I’m hoping to continue to grow more into my role as a project manager. I find T-Mobile to be such an interesting company and I’m constantly hearing about all the cool and innovative things that they’re looking to do.

Anything you want to say to those who are reading this and aren’t sure if the Returnship is the right fit for them?

I just want to reiterate how amazing The Returnship program is. Before this, I hadn’t heard of any other company doing something close to this. It’s such a great initiative, and I highly recommend all veterans, especially those looking to do a career shift, to at least look into the Returnship program. The tools they provide to help you succeed and the mentorship are incredible. Even for those who aren’t veterans and are just looking to get back into their careers after a long break, I would also highly suggest looking into this program. From my cohort, we had many that fit that category of <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/successful-returnship-program-returns-2022">people having to take a step away from their careers due to family reasons or other factors</a>. And I for sure know that they all greatly benefited from this Returnship program and it definitely helped them all restart their careers.

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<div class="wp-block-button"><a class="wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-magenta-background-color has-text-color has-background" href="https://www.reachire.com/hiring-partners/partner-brand-t-mobile" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apply To The Returnship Here!</a></div>

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Inspired by the generosity of the T-Mobile Foundation and our VAN employee resource group during our first DE&I Giving Month in July, this Veterans Day we want to expand T-Mobile’s support of the <a href="https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2F1tribefoundation.org%2F&data=04%7C01%7CLisa.Belot%40t-mobile.com%7Ce4669acf17d8440ce2d608d98e9b0509%7Cbe0f980bdd994b19bd7bbc71a09b026c%7C0%7C0%7C637697618732332319%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=y9VGUVHB1UZW8lhVy5AtnKyA2W5GX2KZUDgyb8QWNrk%3D&reserved=0">One Tribe Foundation</a> by raising this year’s donation to a total of $100,000. We’re proud to support an organization deeply committed to protecting the mental health of veterans, first responders, medical frontline workers and their families.

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A T-Mobile employee talks about how the company’s expanded TechX Returnship program helped him find full-time work after returning to civilian life.

Changing Careers After Military Service: A Veteran’s Story | T-Mobile Newsroom

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Changing Careers After Military Service: A Veteran’s Story

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As T-Mobile begins taking applications for its third cohort, we take a look at some of the success stories from the program designed to get working mothers and others displaced by the pandemic — and why you might want to consider the TechX Returnship too!

Back in 2020, we first reported on a tiny but mighty program at T-Mobile called the <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/t-mobile-offers-a-welcome-returnship-for-women-in-tech" data-type="URL" data-id="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/t-mobile-offers-a-welcome-returnship-for-women-in-tech">TechX Returnship</a>. The company’s technology arm, under Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer Brian King, looked to partner with <a href="https://www.reachire.com/hiring-partners/partner-brand-t-mobile" data-type="URL" data-id="https://www.reachire.com/hiring-partners/partner-brand-t-mobile">reacHIRE</a>, an organization that helps women returning to the workforce in tech by providing opportunities specifically to those who’ve taken a long professional career break to care for family members, raise children or for other personal reasons — of which there have certainly been no shortage during Covid times.

The Returnship quickly made a name for itself as a holistic approach to providing female professionals with tech-centric resumes to join a six-month, full-time paid return-to-work program in order to return to the careers where they were thriving before life got in the way. The Returnship began small, a pilot program pairing just six applicants that ran from November 2019 until May 2020 with managers who were vetted and prepared to be fully engaged mentors.

Of course, also in that time period, the pandemic hit and drove a deeper wedge between a vast amount of women across the country, especially working mothers, and their careers.

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“Life happens, and we have to take a break from the workforce to become caregivers or take extended leave,” says <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/svp-inspires-women-in-tech">Edwige Robinson</a>, T-Mobile’s Senior Vice President of the Central Regional Network Engineering & Operations and a powerhouse female leader in technology. “After being out for a couple of years or so, you feel like a newcomer again, reticent but also motivated to explore the possibilities — this is why I love the Returnship program — it is a second chance opportunity for a vast pool of highly qualified candidates who are ready to make an impact! You have to trust that you have what it takes.”

<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace">McKinsey & Lean In</a> showed that 1 in 4 women considered downshifting their careers, due to the increased burden that work put on them and their families.Fortune released a study from <a href="https://fortune.com/2020/10/05/women-labor-force-drop-out-september/">The National Women’s Law Center</a> that found 865,000 women dropped out of the workforce in September 2020, a sobering fact when compared to how many men left their jobs during the same time period: 216,000.2021 started with <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/economy/women-job-losses-pandemic/index.html">the disturbing news</a> that every single one of the 140,000 job losses in December 2020 were held by women. The final job loss number for 2020 was <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/about-us/covid-response-center/inclusive-economy/what-we-lose-when-we-lose-women-in-the-workforce">2.3 Million women</a>.

While staying true to its mission of helping women return to the workforce — more important than ever, once the pandemic took hold — the TechX Returnship recognized other populations of displaced workers as well, and decided to open its door a little wider.

For its second cohort, which ran from November 2020 to May 2021​, the program designed for women also accepted a few select men, <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/returnship-helps-veterans-reenter-workforce">focusing on veterans who have traditionally experienced a challenge getting back into the workplace after military service </a>— a problem also exacerbated by the pandemic. Ultimately 20 more spots were created, for a total of 26 members: 23 women and three men.

And with this growth came more success. The results offered a rare bit of good news during trying times: 91.6 percent of the graduating class found full-time and extended-contract positions at T-Mobile.

The program quickly gained credibility with veteran hiring groups like <a href="https://www.hiringourheroes.org/">Hiring Our Heroes</a>, which began recommending the program to its qualifying members.

Recent program alumna <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/returnship-helps-veterans-reenter-workforce">Alex Asuncion</a> found out about The Returnship this way, and says it was instrumental in helping him successfully change his career focus and find full time work after transitioning from full active duty with the United States Air Force.

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<div class="wp-block-button"><a class="wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-magenta-background-color has-text-color has-background" href="https://www.reachire.com/hiring-partners/partner-brand-t-mobile">Apply To The Returnship Here</a></div>

As we look toward 2022, recruitment is underway for the third cohort, and the program is expanding to 37 positions with various in-person, remote and hybrid roles, some even outside of technology in consumer markets, HR and finance. It marks an important return (and continuation) of the Returnship.

“We wanted to learn through the pilot,” King said. “We wanted to make sure that we have the right managers and mentors and that they were set up to be successful. We now have a formula that works. And we have a formula that we can scale within the rest of our teams and make sure that we’ve got the right level of champions within each of the departments.” 

To kick off the latest application process, T-Mobile assembled a few of its recent graduates for a panel discussion on how the program helped them, and could help others with this next cohort too. Hosted by female empowerment blogger Brandi Riley, the conversation immediately got to the matter at heart.

“We want you to imagine yourself in the shoes of these folks here,” said Returnship recruiting lead Joanne de Guzman. “Imagine not being employed for two plus years, but you have value and you have worth.”

<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/working-mothers-derailed-by-pandemic-face-a-tough-road-11618185600?mod=article_inline" target="_blank">While nearly 1.1 million women</a> dropped out of the workforce between February 2020 and March 2021, the rate of unemployment was <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelleyzalis/2021/09/09/moms-are-less-likely-to-return-to-the-workforce-post-covid-heres-how-employers-can-help/?sh=4c0cc94e4d72">even higher for women with children</a>, with almost <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/03/moms-work-and-the-pandemic.html" target="_blank">1.4 million fewer moms of school-aged children</a> actively working during that same time period than the prior year. And getting these women and others temporarily sidelined back to work is of crucial importance to both the program and T-Mobile.

“You often hear people say it’s a priority, but It’s more than a priority to us,” she said earnestly. “It’s our future workforce and current workforce and we all need to do our part and work together to make sure people are employed and find the right cultural fit.”

Though both are seasoned professionals with a list of career bona fides, two graduates of last year’s Returnship class, Pam Joy and Sandie Moshofsky, said the question of whether or not employers would understand the impossible choices they had to make left them doubting their own value.

“If you have a career gap, it’s almost an automatic reject,” explains Joy, who has 12 years of experience and a masters in telecommunications. “But this program only looks for those with career gaps.”

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Joy said The Returnship gave her more than just confidence in her skills after she chose to take a career break to focus on supporting a terminally ill family member before the pandemic hit — the training and support the program provided her helped her understand how her experiences have made her resilient, as well as a valuable hire.

“Many people had to make a difficult choice when they dropped out of the workforce,” she said. “It wasn’t something they necessarily wanted. Perhaps they wanted to work but they needed childcare.”

A self-professed “wireless nerd,” Joy now works full time at T-Mobile as a senior engineer in the company’s Systems Architecture Network Technology organization. She said she’s on the fast track to continuing her career growth, stronger than ever — in life and work.

“I have been through a very challenging situation, but it didn’t break me, it made me stronger,” she said. “So, I felt like I could face whatever challenges work would bring.”

Sandie Moshofsky, who has 27 years of experience in the telecommunications industry in operations and engineering, said she does not regret taking a step back from her career to care for family before the pandemic hit, but that it undeniably put fear in her heart. She says when she had trouble finding work after Covid-19, she was accepted into the second cohort of the Returnship in 2020, but hesitated because she wondered if she “had what it takes” to re-enter the fast-paced technical world after a two year break. Ultimately, she says the program was a chance to get beyond the fear of her past choices when they had to be made, and move forward.

“We are women of experience and know our value and worth,” said Moshofsky, who is now a senior project manager in the Technical Enterprise Technology Solutions organization at T-Mobile. I have so much gratitude for that opportunity as a woman and woman of color coming in. It didn’t go without sacrifices with the kids and work and putting food on the table and having shelter. It’s about making the right decisions in that moment, and it can be life-changing if you don’t make the right decisions along the way because you could be without a job.”

“We are offering people opportunity, reskilling, coaching and development,” said de Guzman, noting her personal enthusiasm for those applying for the 37 spots open for the third Returnship round, “and I think we will find rock stars like Sandie and Pam with a history of performance.”

And for those unsure if they deserve the opportunities the program offers, Moshofsky had these simple words of encouragement to offer: “Just push that button, because I kept saying I can’t do this alone. I needed that support and T-Mobile was there.”

Are you looking to return to work after a career break? Check out the TechX Returnship application by pushing the button below!

<div class="wp-block-button"><a class="wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-magenta-background-color has-text-color has-background" href="https://www.reachire.com/hiring-partners/partner-brand-t-mobile" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apply To The Returnship Here</a></div>

In honor of Veterans Day on November 11, we have an employee spotlight on one of the TechX Returnship’s former military graduates who discusses his journey back to civilian life and switching careers with the program’s help. Read more about <meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/returnship-helps-veterans-reenter-workforce">Alex Asuncion</a>!

T-Mobile recruits for its 3rd Returnship and shares success stories from how it's helped working mothers and others displaced by the pandemic.

T-Mobile Expands Successful Returnship Program for Third Round | T-Mobile Newsroom

T-Mobile Expands Successful Returnship Program for Third Round

T-Mobile recruits for its 3rd Returnship and shares success stories from how it&#039;s helped working mothers and others displaced by the pandemic.

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Award-winning chef, author and philanthropist Aarón Sánchez was the guest star for T-Mobile’s special Hispanic Heritage Month edition of its ongoing Talking with Trailblazers series, dishing about his cooking career, preserving his family legacy through food and planting seeds for the next generation of Latino chefs.

Aarón Sánchez can whip up a joke about his Latino heritage as masterfully as he does one of his famed dishes.

“Talking about how we live as Latinos,” the chef said, before delivering a punchline like a well-seasoned comedian: “I live with my 63-year-old uncle who does the laundry with Suavitel. We clean our floor with Fabuloso. You know what I mean?”

While the laughs in the room proved the audience appreciated Sánchez’s penchant for the lighthearted, when it comes to the importance of preserving his family’s legacy through food, and inspiring and supporting young Latino talent in the culinary world, he turns to the serious and the heartfelt.

“One of the things I get really charged about is our youth,” he said. “They are our most valuable commodity. How we treat our youth and how we influence them is so important. This industry has given me so much, I felt I had to give back.”

The award-winning chef, author and philanthropist was a guest speaker for T-Mobile’s most recent Talking with Trailblazers event, hosted by Jorge Martel, the company’s Vice President & General Manager, Puerto Rico, in front of fifty employees at its signature store in Miami.

Talking with Trailblazers invites diverse speakers on a number of culturally significant topics to inspire, educate and share, and this particular event was a special celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. Throughout the month (Sept. 15 to Oct. 15), T-Mobile employees are able to donate to the <a href="https://un-carrier.benevity.org/campaigns/353">Hispanic Scholarship Fund</a> and get a 2:1 employee match, thanks to the T-Mobile Foundation. The event also encouraged any of the 1,800 remote viewers to join its Magenta Latinx Network employee resource group, which is already 3,500 members strong.

Sánchez discussed his cooking career as the current chef/owner of <a href="https://www.johnnysancheznola.com/">Johnny Sánchez</a> in New Orleans, a judge on FOX’s hit culinary competition series <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MasterChef_(American_TV_series)">MasterChef</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MasterChef_Junior">MasterChef Junior</a>, and an author of two cookbooks, La Comida del Barrio and Simple Food, Big Flavor, as well as a memoir, Where I Come From: Life Lessons From a Latino Chef.

He also discussed how he is supporting other Latino chefs as the partner/creative director of <a href="https://www.chefaaronsanchez.com/cocina">Cocina</a>, the first online content platform dedicated to celebrating the Latin lifestyle through its vibrant culinary culture.

“I think we're living in a really exciting time where second generation Latinos especially are trying to get back to roots and I think it's real exciting,” he said. “And I think technology helps do that. Whether you’re capturing ingredients at a farmer’s market, whether you’re interviewing your abuela and having her tell you about her stories and her upbringing — that’s how you use the technology. That’s really powerful, I think.”

Sánchez also acknowledged how technology during this particular time has helped fuel people’s curiosity of what’s beyond the home environment, where many were isolated during the pandemic, and that’s in turn created a space for Latinos to do more research into their own heritage through home-cooked meals.

“People’s knowledge of the food has grown so much,” he explained. “And the pandemic has helped with that, actually. I think people have cooked a lot more at home. I think people are researching their food more. They're using the technology from T-Mobile. We were already in the foodie era, now I think we just got more food-ier. I think it's exciting time for the home cook.”

And an exciting time for those looking to become professional chefs, too, which is the idea behind the <a href="https://www.aaronsanchezscholarshipfund.com/">Aarón Sánchez Scholarship Fund (ASSF),</a> an initiative empowering aspiring chefs from the Latin community. ASSF provides recipients with full culinary scholarships to the International Culinary Center (ICC) in New York City and ongoing mentorship.

“I know it’s important to give back,” he said, citing his own mentors over the years, like chefs Douglas Rodriguez, Paul Prudhomme, Jonathan Waxman — and most of all, his mother, a chef who risked it all to follow her culinary dreams in New York City and sparked his initial interest in cuisine. “My industry has afforded me a beautiful life, and I would never imagine the things that I've seen and done. So, in order for me to do that, I have to thank my mentors and I have to make sure that I’m planting seeds for the next generation.”

Sánchez says his journey hasn’t been an easy road to success, but he acknowledges those who helped him, while also recognizing the unfair obstacles that he can now help remove for those next in line.

“It’s just this really exciting time right now,” he said optimistically. “Because when I started 25 years ago, I felt there was a huge discrepancy between Latinos getting executive positions in kitchens. We were dishwashers, we were prep people. We never got those big jobs. Our time has come.”

Have room for seconds? Well, you’re in luck! Also in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, check out this story about a cookbook of recipes from employees from T‑Mobile’s Consumer Group team: <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/hispanic-heritage-month-food-is-our-love-language">“Food Is Our Love Language.”</a>

Award-winning chef, author and philanthropist Aarón Sánchez was the guest on T-Mobile’s Hispanic Heritage Month edition of Talking with Trailblazers.

Chef Aarón Sánchez: “Our Time Has Come” | T-Mobile Newsroom

Chef Aarón Sánchez: “Our Time Has Come”

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In one of the most diverse school districts in the country, T-Mobile partnered with school and city officials in Oakland to help close the Homework Gap.

Friday, March 13, 2020: The President of the United States declares a national emergency due to the coronavirus outbreak. That same afternoon, the superintendent of Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) in Oakland, Calif., declares that, starting the following Monday, OUSD’s 80 K-12 schools would cease in-person classes. The district’s 35,000 students would shift to distance learning through online classes and homework for at least the next month. And so began the most profound logistical challenge that Oakland school administrators had ever confronted.

In this city of 425,000 in Northern California’s San Francisco Bay Area, simply messaging the shift to families was complicated. With minority enrollment at 89% of the total student population, and Latinos accounting for 44%, Oakland USD is by far one of the most diverse school districts in America. Throughout the district, about 11,000 students, or 30%, are learning English for the first time. Half of all students speak one of more than 50 different languages at home.

In this city of 425,000 in Northern California’s San Francisco Bay Area, simply messaging the shift to families was complicated. With minority enrollment at 89% of the total student population, and Latinos accounting for 44%, Oakland USD is by far one of the most diverse school districts in America. Throughout the district, about 11,000 students, or 30%, are learning English for the first time. Half of all students speak one of more than 50 different languages at home.

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But communication wasn’t the only hurdle. At the time, says Susan Beltz, chief technology officer of OUSD, only 12% of Oakland’s 35,000 low-income students had a home internet connection.

Even among those who had the hardware, most still lacked the service to get online, leaving a huge disparity between those prepared with the tools for distance learning and those without. That disparity is an ongoing issue known as the Digital Divide — or in the context of school, the Homework Gap — and it plagues not only OUSD but school districts across the country. For Oakland schools and students, shifting to online-only classes was not as simple as just getting on Zoom. “The logistics were mind-boggling,” Beltz said.

She and Ali Medina, executive director of the Oakland Public Education Fund, charged ahead. They partnered with administrators across the district, plus officials from the City of Oakland. They all had the pandemic-incited emergency in mind, but they also saw the bigger picture. “We came together to say there's this huge need, and it’s essentially the issue of this generation and it's got to get solved,” Medina says. “We were all truly answering a call, and that includes T-Mobile, to do what's right. We have this technology, and we're going to get it into the hands of kids that need it.”

Recognizing that the problem is bigger than government or nonprofit agencies can address alone, T-Mobile has devoted immense resources to bridging the Digital Divide for years — and, with its Project 10Million, the Homework Gap. Announced in 2019 and launched the following year, T-Mobile’s Project 10Million has been providing schools with connectivity solutions for a year, and prior to that with its smaller-scale EmpowerED campaign, so the company already had a relationship with Oakland USD and the Oakland Public Education Fund, the nonprofit that fundraises and serves as a fiscal sponsor for OUSD.

But COVID upped the urgency. The key to bridging Oakland’s Homework Gap would be to scale up — and to do it faster than anyone imagined possible. An early donation from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to what became known as the #OaklandUndivided campaign paid for thousands of new tablets and laptops for students. But there was no service for the devices. “And here came T-Mobile like a knight in shining armor,” Medina said with a laugh.

T-Mobile and OUSD’s partnership had begun on a much smaller scale. In this new scenario, every aspect expanded. Beltz and Medina convened weekly meetings between district administrators, city officials and T-Mobile staff. Day after day, week after week, they stayed in touch with dozens of staffers in disparate organizations and departments.

“We were having these recurring conversations about, you know, when are the hotspots coming in? And when they arrive do you want us to install the SIM cards or do you want to do it? And how are we tracking all this stuff and how do we know when a line should be shut down because the device got lost and there's no longer any usage?” said Beltz. “It was a lot of in-depth work to make sure that these devices were going out to kids and being used by kids and were well supported, and being replaced and reissued when they needed to be. The vendor partnership with T-Mobile has been amazing because once the contract was signed it wasn’t just like, ‘OK, we’re going to ship a bunch of devices and we’re off to our next customer!’”

Together, #OaklandUndivided procured and distributed tens of thousands of wireless devices, including hotspots, tablet and laptops, plus service plans to get them all up and running in classrooms and private homes across Oakland. It took months, even at warp speed. And the partnership has not only weathered a year of remote learning, it’s ongoing in the new school year. Now almost every student in the district can get online — Beltz and Medina say that Project 10Million has helped improve the connectivity rate from 12% to 98%. But the challenge is never ending.

“There's always that next student that just moved to Oakland and is enrolling,” Beltz says. “And even if they're attending school in person, you still want to make sure that the Homework Gap and the Digital Divide continue to be solved."

“I’ve spent my entire career in tech,” she continues, “and the term ‘Digital Divide’ has existed since the ‘90s. The fact that it has such tremendous urgency in 2021 shows where things are and this tremendous opportunity gap between people who have connectivity and devices and people who don’t. I think there’s real recognition on the part of education leaders and city leaders to say, ‘This is not acceptable for our kids.’”

With Project 10Million running full steam ahead in Oakland (and with T-Mobile already connecting a total of <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/ceo-mike-sievert-project-10million" target="_blank">3 million students</a> across the U.S.)

Medina is especially excited about continuing this work during Hispanic Heritage Month. She emphasizes her own Latina heritage to make a crucial point. “Project 10Million did a huge service for our students of color,” she says. “The pandemic exacerbated the problems that exist because of the difference between the haves and the have-nots. But what it really did was prompt all of us to dig deep and say, ‘We’re going to serve low-income students and students of color who are low income to make sure that they have equal access and equity in the educational space. It was a major step forward, a shot across the bow, that ‘we’re going to take equity and turn it around. We’re not going to let this disparity continue to separate kids and their ability to learn. Because that’s the way you have economic mobility and success in the world in which we live. We want everybody to have equal access to opportunities.”

To learn more about T-Mobile’s Project 10Million or to register your school district for the program, visit <a href="https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.t-mobile.com%2Fp10m&data=04%7C01%7CLisa.Belot%40t-mobile.com%7Ca44babf753534129bef308d97c710934%7Cbe0f980bdd994b19bd7bbc71a09b026c%7C0%7C0%7C637677647195659135%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=c6SbL%2BqVNdQtJN6IsK%2FdIPFNaCWstuA0cCrZqOJ8VBk%3D&reserved=0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">www.t-mobile.com/p10m</a>. If you’re the parent or guardian of an eligible student, you can register at <a href="http://www.t-mobile.com/project10million" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">www.t-mobile.com/project10million.</a>

As Hispanic Heritage Month comes to a close, T-Mobile is spotlighting the Oakland Unified School District and the partnerships – including Project 10Million – they’ve engaged to get their largely Hispanic student population connected.

A Big Step Across the Digital Divide: T-Mobile’s Project 10Million Connects 35,000 Oakland Students | T-Mobile Newsroom

A Big Step Across the Digital Divide: T-Mobile’s Project 10Million Connects 35,000 Oakland Students

Jess Dillon

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T-Mobile’s Project 10Million Connects 35,000 Oakland Students

https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/p10m-hhm2021

Here at T-Mobile, the idea of “caring for our customers” is woven into the very fabric of the company, from our mission statement to our values to our actions. This last year alone was filled with a number of company-wide milestones that made us proud! We were recognized as #5 in Top Employers’ Response to the Pandemic by Forbes and JUST Capital, received a 100% score in the Disability Equality Index and made $100 million in direct and in-kind donations to support local communities — just to name a few. Though we are excited about these achievements, we realize that a <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/responsibility">company's work is never done</a>, and we're just getting started in our goal of contributing to a better tomorrow.

With such a <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/category/community">wide variety of issues</a> that matter to us, it can be difficult to properly share a comprehensive view of our charitable causes. However, as published in our <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/responsibility/2020-corporate-responsibility-report">most recent Corporate Responsibility Report</a>, our primary focus has been on three important areas: bridging the digital divide, diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) and contributing to a thriving planet.

We designed this quiz to see if we’re contributing to a cause that matters to you. It’s a day in the life adventure where the seemingly simple choices you make as you navigate an otherwise unassuming rainy day can reveal so much!

We’ll catch up with you at the end, where you’ll be awarded a special charitable title and learn a bit more information about our companywide efforts along the way!

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Choosing where to put your philanthropic efforts can be difficult when there are so many important causes out there that need our help! Walk through this “day in the life” quiz, and we bet we can guess the charitable cause that matters most to you. (It’s undoubtedly near and dear to T-Mobile’s magenta heart, too!)

Quiz: What Type of Conscious Consumer Are You? Let Us Guess! | T-Mobile Newsroom

Quiz: What Type of Conscious Consumer Are You? Let Us Guess!

Liz Habersham

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https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/conscious-consumer-quiz

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T-Mobile’s new Senior Accessibility Partner has worked with a number of government institutions and even the White House itself to elevate the standards of access and inclusion. She speaks with us about both her impressive resume and the memories as a little girl that motivated her to work in social justice.

Claudia Gordon is a lot of things. It’s hard to wrap your mind around it when you see it on paper.

She'll tell you she's the first Black, deaf woman attorney in the United States. Former staff attorney of nonprofit <a href="https://www.nad.org/about-us/law-advocacy-center/">National Association of the Deaf Law and Advocacy Center</a>. Member of <a href="https://www.nbda.org/">National Black Deaf Advocates</a>. A Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties alumna. A disaster recovery representative on the ground in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. An 8-year member of the Obama administration’s Department of Labor and former disability liaison at White House. A <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/claudia_gordon_owning_otherness">Ted Talk</a> presenter.

But when you ask her about this, Claudia glosses over titles and organizations with such ease, to efficiently get to what the point behind all that was for her. Each title, each promotion, each department change had a very specific purpose behind it. She wanted to provide legal representation and help break down communication barriers for individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing and deafblind. She wanted to advocate directly with Congress and federal agencies to enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act. She wanted to ensure that while we were applying new security measures to protect our nation, we weren’t diminishing the rights and protections of those with disabilities. She wanted to strengthen <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ofccp/section-503#:~:text=Section%20503%20of%20the%20Rehabilitation,promote%2C%20and%20retain%20these%20individuals.">Section 503 of the Rehab Act,</a> which prohibits federal contractors from discriminating against individuals with disabilities and requires employers take affirmative action to recruit, hire, promote and retain such individuals.

Don’t get lost in the titles or the organization names. What Claudia Gordon wants you to know is simple: “My goal was to contribute toward inclusivity and accessibility and work for a more just and equitable world.”

Now leading the charge at T-Mobile as senior partner within the company’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team, she is excited to once again go beyond titles and find the purpose in her work: To pursue the integration of disability and inclusion access within the company’s overarching DE&I prioritization efforts and initiatives.

As the company celebrates being named a 2021 Leading Disability Employer by the <a href="https://www.nod.org/">National Organization on Disability</a> and receiving a 100% score on Disability:IN’s <a href="https://disabilityin.org/what-we-do/disability-equality-index/2020companies/">Disability Equality Index</a> for five years in a row, Claudia makes it clear that awards never mark the end of the work that still needs to happen.

“We continue to receive recognition for our efforts in disability employment, accessibility and inclusion,” she says, “but I don’t think we can just hold ourselves out as worthy recipients. Accessibility and inclusion for those with disabilities is a journey where we will never arrive at an end point, or where we can just pat ourselves on the back and rest on our laurels. When we think about accessibility we ought to think about people … at the end of the day, it’s about our employees with disabilities, our customers with disabilities, our job applicants with disabilities who want to come and work with us. It’s about them. They want the same thing as everyone else, which is a world they can navigate without barriers.”

We sat down with Claudia, with the help of American Sign Language interpreters Tiffany Hill and Elise Mongeon, to discuss the motivation behind her work, the plans she has at T-Mobile and what it means to be one team together.

Where does the passion and motivation to become the first Black, deaf woman attorney in the U.S. come from, and how do you see that same motivation in the work you do today?

I was born and raised on the beautiful island of Jamaica. When I was 8 years old, I lost my ability to hear, and since then I’ve experienced multiple forms of marginalization, oppression and plain old exclusion. Those experiences motivated me to pursue a career in social justice from a very early age.

I moved to the United States when I was 11, where I was fortunate to receive an excellent education. In the following years I attended college and obtained a law degree from American University in Washington, DC. My goal was to contribute toward inclusivity and accessibility and work for a more just and equitable world.

I joined Sprint in 2017 and oversaw government compliance for the accessibility business unit, focusing on reducing barriers in communication-product services. In June, I accepted my new role as senior partner within the T-Mobile Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team, and I’m very excited to get going.

T-Mobile is different. We prioritize disability among those marginalized groups, and that’s one reason why we’ve been singled out for awards from disability advocacy groups year after year after year.

My job is to work with various stakeholders across the company, such as real estate, HR, recruitment, even IT, regarding digital space and product development. We’ll listen to these stakeholders to learn about their work and how we can incorporate disability-related considerations into what we do every day — and to determine where there’s room for improvement. Based on those gaps, we’ll develop collaborative strategies that will drive us to become a more equitable workplace for individuals with disabilities and create a more inclusive culture where everyone can thrive and bring their whole self to work.

You have worked for a number of reputable institutions and companies that put a lot of rigor behind the work of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. How would you describe the energy in the field at T-Mobile?

T-Mobile has already demonstrated that it’s a good place for people with disabilities to work in several ways. And the key is not simply hiring someone with disabilities for the sake of checking a box or to garner a particular percentage so the statistics look good. Inclusion transcends the presence of an individual to include people with disabilities so they genuinely feel like they belong in the workplace, like their experiences and voices are heard. That’s essential for real, meaningful inclusion, and I believe T-Mobile gets it. It’s important for a company to be vulnerable enough to admit there’s room for improvement.

Even before I came aboard, I’d seen impressive efforts in several areas. For example, the Accessibility Resource Center, or ARC, is a group working hard to remove digital barriers to access, and I’ve been impressed with the team’s technical expertise and their efforts to educate across the company and invest in training. It’s an effort that should be recognized all across the corporate world.

And the <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/careers/culture-and-benefits/diversity">Accessibility Community at T-Mobile, or ACT,</a> is an employee resource group that I believe is at 11,000 members and counting. That’s huge. They provide great resources for employees with disabilities.

Another example is this role I’ve been brought into. It shows that the voices and the hands of those with disabilities at T-Mobile matter. We are on a journey, and I feel like we have a seat at the table and our voices and our hands are being heard.

How would you describe the practical application of the work you’re doing, in a way that all employees can understand and see the value and benefit for the company as a whole?

My DE&I team partners with HR, which involves representation from many different stakeholders across the company. The goal is to identify pain points and barriers to access and work together to figure out solutions and mediation. Sometimes it’s as simple as learning a management system or platform that employees have to use. That shows a level of commitment to work towards actual goals, not just talking about them.

I encourage each of us, including myself as a person with a disability, to pause and think about how our behavior impacts others. With this mindset, we can prioritize access and inclusion in even the little things we do. Because it really matters. It’s not something we can just delegate to one person or one team. It’s us, one team together, to achieve a more inclusive and equitable workplace, that will make T-Mobile number one for this work.

T-Mobile is celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month throughout October. To learn more about the Un-carrier’s efforts to further Diversity, Equity and Inclusion every day, visit <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/brand/celebrating-diversity">the T-Mobile website.</a>

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T-Mobile’s new Senior Accessibility Partner has worked with White House itself to elevate the standards of access and inclusion.

Disability Awareness Starts with All of Us — and Benefits All of Us | T-Mobile Newsroom

Disability Awareness Starts with All of Us — and Benefits All of Us

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A cookbook compiling recipes submitted by employees across T-Mobile’s Consumer Group team serves up a helping of Hispanic heritage with 50 Latino-inspired dishes.

They say food is love, and for the people behind the recipes featured in a cookbook that showcases the rich diversity of T-Mobile employees’ Latino culture, there’s no more authentic way to show love for their Hispanic heritage than through the dishes they grew up with.

“That’s one of the beautiful things about the Hispanic culture,” says Jeanette Rodriguez, a retail store manager in Orange County, California. “It really centralizes around making sure that you’ve eaten!”

And when members of the Consumer Group organization (previously known as Consumer Markets) decided it might be fun to put together a cookbook to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month last year, employees across the country made sure there would be enough recipes within to guarantee everyone gets seconds.

“Honestly, we were blown away by the interest and participation,” says Melinda Carter, a senior program manager based in Overland Park, Kansas. “We thought if we could get twenty to twenty-five good recipes and stories with no duplicates, that would be a success. But these amazing recipes, stories and photos kept rolling in. Not only did we have responses from all over the country, but the recipes submitted came from a range of job roles and a blend of our different distribution and retail channels.”

With over 100,000 members, T-Mobile’s Consumer Group encompasses all consumer strategy, marketing and operations teams alongside frontline field sales teams across the nation at more than 18,000 distribution points, including retail stores, for both T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile. T-Mobile recently released its <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/content/dam/t-mobile/assets/pdf/T-Mobile_CSR20_10921.pdf" data-type="URL" data-id="https://www.t-mobile.com/content/dam/t-mobile/assets/pdf/T-Mobile_CSR20_10921.pdf">Corporate Responsibility Report</a> that showcases the company’s workforce diversity numbers, citing 60.1 percent of its employees identify as people of color and 27.6 percent as specifically identifying as Hispanic.

When it became clear the cookbook was a way employees wanted to celebrate the month together, organizers went big, and Consumer Group EVP Jon Freier approved funding to make it happen. It took months to choose from the submissions, before landing on fifty recipes that spanned as much of the Latin world as possible. That’s when they began working on producing something that not only showcased wonderful food to cook, but also takes the reader on a tour of Hispanic culture all over the world with deeply personal stories behind the delectable dishes.

A regional map in the opening pages starts the culinary learning-journey in Mexico, traveling through Central and South America, and then sailing the Caribbean to Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and all the way east to Spain — denoting staples, flavors and ingredients that are significant or more plentiful to each region.

Each employee who submitted a recipe was gifted a hard copy of the cookbook, and a digital file was also shared for other employees to dig in and enjoy.

“There were so many recipes that honestly surprised me because many I had been eating since I was a little girl and I never knew where they came from,” says Jessica Rodriguez, a retail store manager in Virginia. “I just knew them as Spanish or Latino food, but to get to understand where they come from and the history and background was amazing. Just like I have my own culture from Guatemala, now I get to see that in all these other Latin countries.”

Jessica submitted her family’s tamales recipe because, as she says through a giggle, “it’s like Christmas in your mouth! It’s just amazing how the taste can bring back so many memories from your childhood.”

But all kidding aside, it’s the importance of the memories attached to that taste that easily brings tears she can’t possibly fight back when she talks about them.

“I remember being young and my father being there making the masa and my mother making the meat,” Jessica says. “Being together at that time was special because that’s when we were with my father who is no longer with us. The tamales were a way to bring us together, especially during the holiday season. It’s something I want to give to my kids and that I want them to then pass down.”

Jeanette decided to submit her mother’s pozole de pollo recipe, not only because it reminds her of the tastes of her family’s native Mexico and the ingredients she loved most as a child, but also because of what the dish represents to her family.

“For me the earliest memory I have of enjoying this dish is celebrating when my mother became a U.S. citizen,” Jeanette explains. “Every time I make pozole or if I smell it, it brings me back to that day and to that table as a little girl, looking across at my mom being so proud.”

DE&I

Changing Careers After Military Service: A Veteran’s Story

T‑Mobile Expands Successful Returnship Program for Third Round

Chef Aarón Sánchez: “Our Time Has Come”

A Big Step Across the Digital Divide: T‑Mobile’s Project 10Million Connects 35,000 Oakland Students

Quiz: What Type of Conscious Consumer Are You? Let Us Guess!

Disability Awareness Starts with All of Us — and Benefits All of Us

Hispanic Heritage Month: “Food Is Our Love Language”

A Word from Mike Sievert on T‑Mobile’s 2020 Corporate Responsibility Report

T‑Mobile Enhances Partnerships with LULAC and UnidosUS to Bring Digital Literacy Resources to Hispanic Communities

Laverne Cox: “When We Understand the Story, We Can Begin to Write a Different Ending”

Equity In Action:
The Un‑carrier Approach to DE&I

Powering the Future of Pride:
T‑Mobile Invests in Educational Equity for LGBTQ+ Youth

Changing Careers After Military Service: A Veteran’s Story

T‑Mobile Expands Successful Returnship Program for Third Round

Chef Aarón Sánchez: “Our Time Has Come”

A Big Step Across the Digital Divide: T‑Mobile’s Project 10Million Connects 35,000 Oakland Students

Quiz: What Type of Conscious Consumer Are You? Let Us Guess!

Disability Awareness Starts with All of Us — and Benefits All of Us

Hispanic Heritage Month: “Food Is Our Love Language”

A Word from Mike Sievert on T‑Mobile’s 2020 Corporate Responsibility Report

T‑Mobile Enhances Partnerships with LULAC and UnidosUS to Bring Digital Literacy Resources to Hispanic Communities

Laverne Cox: “When We Understand the Story, We Can Begin to Write a Different Ending”

Equity In Action: The Un‑carrier Approach to DE&I

Powering the Future of Pride: T‑Mobile Invests in Educational Equity for LGBTQ+ Youth

Equity In Action:
The Un‑carrier Approach to DE&I

Powering the Future of Pride:
T‑Mobile Invests in Educational Equity for LGBTQ+ Youth