The SOME Center for Employment Training (CET) is a licensed post-secondary vocational school offering free, hands-on training in the healthcare and building trades fields. In addition to providing technical instruction, areas such as CPR, First Aid, Heating and Venting, but it’s so much more than that. They help their students build their résumés, and they teach them how to write a cover letter and excel in an interview. The CET programs take 6 to 9 months to complete and lead to industry certification. After graduation, all trainees are certified and prepared to start their new careers through possible externships with one of their Employer Partners or other avenues. Perhaps most importantly, students in the program also have access to SOME’s other services, including healthcare, transportation support, clothing support, and food support. SOME applies a Whole Person approach to training and education, creating an environment where their students can move themselves out of poverty and into living wage careers.

“It was intentional for us to co-locate all those services at the Conway Center, and we specifically looked for a site that would accommodate us being able to do so.  Where we ended up was Providential in the sense of finding a property large enough in DC to accommodate everything. As a matter of fact, the site is right across the street from the DC Metro and our longtime partner Unity Healthcare,” said Interim CEO Troy Swanda.

CET was modeled after the successful Center for Employment Program founded by Father Anthony Soto and Russell Tershey, based in San Jose, California, which has been lauded by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Rockefeller Foundation. The original founders of CET in the District of Columbia wanted to ensure the new educational program would be different from a traditional classroom model. Not just any training program would do. It had to be one in which diversity was prioritized. The mission of the Center for Employment Training is based on a philosophy of self-determination. CET seeks to promote the human development and education of low-income people by providing them with industry-certified marketable skills training and supportive services that contribute to economic self-sufficiency. In the 2025 graduating class, nearly 60 people graduated.

Outcomes to date:

• 100+ Adult students receive intensive job training through the Center for Employment Training (CET) per year.
• 100% Employed graduates participating in the CET program’s retention services remained employed for at least one year following graduation.
• 80% Graduates are employed after completing the Center for Employment Training program.
• The average hourly wage earned by our Center for Employment Training graduates is $21/hour.

SOME’s work is poised to be AI Superpowered!

Two years ago, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), a SOME funder, launched a pilot allowing Medical Assistant trainees to attend certain classes digitally. This initiative raised a key question for SOME: When dealing with more complex course material, do virtual attendees struggle more than in-person students, particularly because instructors must divide their attention between the two groups? To address this, SOME is enhancing the distance learning pilot with an AI component. Following a recent proposal submission to OSSE, SOME plans to implement this AI initiative within the next few weeks.

SOME has the following expected outcomes:

• SOME is hoping that AI might help instructors gauge students’ understanding of the material in real time regardless of whether the students are attending virtually or in-person.
• SOME hopes to use Gen AI to generate daily quizzes and or industry vignettes (Scenario-Based exercises) with questions that all students can complete in 5-10 minutes.  
• SOME also hopes to utilize the AI to screen the students’ answers and call instructors’ attention to students who may be answering incorrectly. 
• SOME hopes that this approach will enable instructors to intervene more immediately when students fail to understand the material, and that this intervention will lead to better overall end-of-unit test scores as well as higher scores on industry certification exams. 
• By using the Gemini AI to create these vignettes and quizzes in Google Forms, SOME hopes to ensure that the content will be accessible whether students are attending in person or virtually on SOME’s Chromebooks or on the students’ own devices. 

SOME is also potentially adding the SchoolJoy/Nimo AI Simulation platform. SchoolJoy is an AI coaching platform that helps students with career advice, college prep (including FAFSA), and interview practice. It provides interactive simulations in 30+ languages, adapts to students’ needs, and tracks progress, aiming to boost skills, confidence, and engagement. Nimo is an AI-powered training platform that offers interactive voice scenarios for users to practice soft skills, including communication, leadership, critical thinking, and empathy. Both platforms can be customized for specific jobs or scenarios to develop students’ skills.

Employment Success is a Valued Tradition at SOME CET

While touring the SOME CET with my colleagues from ALL4AI. Don Gatewood, Senior Vice President, Chief Workforce Development Officer, shared, “When graduates of the Center for Employment Training (CET) receive a job offer, they’re invited back to SOME’s training headquarters, at the Conway Center, to ring a bell that’s hung outside of the classrooms. When they do, the classrooms and nearby offices are empty as students and instructors fill the hallways to congratulate them. For many of them, it has been a long, demanding journey, and this is their moment to celebrate all of their hard work.”