Applications are now closed. You can sign up here to be notified about future trainings.

  • Ever wondered how campaigns and progressive movement-building organizations get their data? Or what do they do with it once they have it? More importantly, how does all this strengthen our democracy, help achieve progressive electoral victories, and build power for Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color, other marginalized groups, and working-class Americans?


    Introduction to Progressive Data (IPD) is a 25-hour course covering some of the foundational tools and analytical frameworks in progressive data that will help you answer the questions above and launch or advance your career in the progressive data and technology space. Students will also receive access to significant one-on-one office hour time, complete a voter canvass data final project, receive professional development support, grow their networks, and have access to multiple Generation Data career fairs.

    This upcoming cohort of IPD will take place in Washington, DC from Wednesday July, 26 - Sunday - July 30. There will be a Welcome Event the evening of Tuesday July 25 and we’ll wrap the training the morning of Sunday July 30 with a debrief and recap so participants can travel home.


    Training sessions will take place at and accommodations will be provided at the Kellogg Conference Hotel on the campus of Gallaudet University. Breakfast and lunch will be provided each full training day along with refreshments throughout the day. The staff of the Kellogg Conference Hotel are proud to be represented by UNITE HERE Local 23.


    A special thanks to our Gigabyte sponsors American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Movement Voter Project, and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and our Byte Sponsor Priorities USA whose generosity will enable us to provide a number of partial and full tuition scholarships.

Key Application Dates

  • Applications Open: Tuesday, May 16

  • Priority Consideration Application Deadline: Wednesday, May 31 at 11:59pm PST

    • Receive a Decision by Friday, June 2

    • To meet the priority admission deadline you must complete your application and technical assessment by the 11:59pm PST cutoff

  • Rolling Admissions If You Apply after May 31 Based on Availability

  • Final Application Deadline Friday, June 16 at 11:59pm PST

    • Receive a Decision by Tuesday, June 20

    • To meet the final admission deadline you must complete your application and technical assessment by the 11:59pm PST cutoff

Info Session Recording

The Application Process

  • Start you application above by providing your name and email address

  • You’ll automatically be sent an application form containing questions about your interest in the training, skills / experience with data, campaigns, etc., demographics, and more. This portion of the application should take you 30 - 60 minutes.

  • Once you submit the application form, you’ll automatically be sent a technical assessment that asks you to download and manipulate some voter data. The goal isn’t to see if you’re an expert — that’s why you’re coming to do this training. But we want to see how you wrestle with a data set and technical instructions that may be unfamiliar to you and communicate about that data. As long as you attempt the assessment, we’ll consider your work holistically in relation to the rest of your application

    We’ll also ask you to make a simple visual and write a short (250-500 word) analysis of the data & visual. You’ll have a 48-hour window to complete this portion of the application. Within the 48-hour window, we estimate completing the technical assessment will take 90 - 180 minutes. But you can take as long as you need within the 48-hour window.

  • Sit back, relax, and wait for a decision

Your Teaching Team

What You’ll Learn / Gain

  • Big picture view of data, organizing, and using data to tell compelling stories that drive organizing decisions

  • NGP VAN Admin

  • BigQuery SQL, Spreadsheets & Data Visualization in Community Tech Alliance’s Progressive Action Database (PAD)

  • Overcoming Racial Bias in Data

  • Workshop on Dismantling White Supremacy in Progressive Politics

  • Data Based Canvass Simulation Final Project

  • Career Support and Professional Development

  • A Career Fair

  • Certificate of Completion

Time Commitment / Schedule

  • This upcoming cohort of IPD will take place in Washington, DC from Wednesday July, 26 - Sunday - July 30. There will be a Welcome Event the evening of Tuesday July 25 and we’ll wrap the training Sunday July 30 at 2pm EST with final project presentations and a debrief.

    Students can expect 5-6 hours of instruction each day. Students should also expect to put in an additional 8-10 hours of work on independent exercises and the final project and presentation. There will also be social events, opportunities to hear from and network with progressive data & tech professionals, a career fair and more.

    We’ll accept up to 30 students for this program.

What If I Have to Miss a Class or Two?

  • You’ll need to be available full-time the week of the training to participate. If you have to miss a session or two because you’re not feeling well or you have to take an extremely urgent work call that is fine and we’ll help you catch up. But you will not be able to do this training while also working your full-time job.

    We know we have some students being sponsored by their organizations to participate. We strongly encourage all applicants in full-time rolls to work with their organizations to allow them to participate in this training without using any vacation time and to be able to use professional development funds towards the cost of tuition. We’re happy to work with your managers and provide any documentation required.

Cost

  • We want our trainings to be as accessible as possible to individuals looking to start or advance their career in progressive data — particularly Black, Indigenous, other People of Color, women, queer, trans individuals, those with disabilities and other individuals from underrepresented and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors like AFSCME, Movement Voter Project, SEIU, and other grassroots supporters, we’re able to offer some partial and full-tuition scholarships.

    All individuals interested in the participating in the training are strongly encouraged to apply regardless of ability to pay.

    Tuition covers all training and professional development sessions, course materials, and other training related social and other events. It also includes 5 nights (Tuesday, July 25 - Saturday July 29) of a private hotel room at the Kellogg Conference Center (the same location where the training will take place) as well as breakfast, lunch, and refreshments each day of the training. It does not include dinners or travel costs though we are working to offer a limited number of travel scholarships. Participants from the DC-area will have the option to stay on-site. For individuals local to DC not staying on-site we still ask you pay the full tuition (if you’re able) as it will enable us to provide greater assistance to other participants needing financial support.

    All participants traveling to DC for the training are strongly encouraged to stay in the provided accommodations at the Kellogg Conference Hotel.

  • For individuals being sponsored by their organizations to attend

    • Total cost is $5,000 paid by your organization

    • We are extremely grateful to our many partners across the progressive space for incurring slightly higher costs for this training as it enables us to offer partial and full-tuition waivers and additional financial supports to new entrants to the space and economically disadvantaged current practitioners who may not otherwise be able to attend

    • We may already be in touch with your organization about your space in the class and payment of your tuition. If you’re unsure, please email admissions@generationdata.org

  • For individuals using professional development funds to attend

    • Total cost is $4,000 paid by your organization or by you (depending on how your organization provides professional development funds)

    • If your employer provides a dedicated amount of money each year for you to use for trainings, conferences, etc. relevant to your professional growth, we strongly encourage you to use those funds for this training if possible. We view this as distinct from your manager / organization proactively reaching out to us to sponsor a seat/s for you and your colleagues in the training, which is what is described above.

    • Depending on the amount of professional development funds you have available, you may need to pay the balance of of pocket or seek a partial or full-tuition waiver for the remainder of the cost

  • For individuals not sponsored by an organization and not using professional development funds

    • Total cost is $3,000 paid by you

Payment

  • If you accept your offer of admission, we’ll ask you to pay a deposit of 10% of the tuition amount your responsible for (less any scholarship or professional development fund supports you’re receiving) within 10 days of accepting your offer to secure you seat

  • The balance of the tuition amount you’re responsible for will be due Thursday, July 6.

Can This Help Me Get a Job in Progressive or Social Impact Data?

  • To date, we’ve had over 250 students complete a Generation Data training. Nearly two-thirds of our graduates have landed new roles or added skills to make a greater impact in their current roles with organizations including AFL-CIO, AFSCME, America Votes, Catalist, Color of Change, Equality Federation, Grow Progress, The Movement Cooperative, Planned Parenthood, Poder Latinx, SEIU, State Voices, Sunrise Movement, TargetSmart, and United We Dream among others

How Much Do Data People Earn?

  • As of 2020, entry-level employees in the progressive political space earn a median salary of $68,000, mid-level employees $82,000, and senior / department-head employees $110,000. The overall median salary is $88,000 and the overall average salary is $94,571. Check out these comprehensive Progressive Data, Analytics, and Technology Salary Surveys form Progressive Data Jobs for more info.

Who Should Apply?

  • We’re particularly interested in

    • Individuals with advocacy, labor, and campaign field experience who like working with data / technology

    • Individuals with existing skill sets in areas including data analytics, computer programming, software development, statistics, and more

  • Black, Indigenous, other People of Color, women, queer, trans, those with disabilities and other individuals from underrepresented and marginalized communities are strongly encouraged to apply

    • Our students are 60% Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color, 60% female or non-binary, and 35% LGBTQIA+

Learning Accommodations

  • We’re continually trying to make our trainings as accessible as possible to all styles of learners and those who may have specific learning challenges. That said, we’re a small organization and don’t currently have any experts in learning accessibility design on staff. During the application process, we’ll provide space for you to let us know of any accommodations you may need, and we’ll let you know if we are able to accommodate you.

What Do I Need?

  • A Mac, Windows, or Linux laptop with at least 4GB of RAM. All course materials will be provided

Questions / More Info

  • admissions@generationdata.org