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The Altitude Foundation: promoting social mobility in STEM careers

13 March 2019

Today sees the founding of a new charity, the Altitude Foundation, which aims to create a world where all young people with a passion for technology are enabled to smash barriers in order to achieve a successful career.

Scott Logic has provided the seed money to get the Altitude Foundation up and running. We believe strongly in the business and social benefits of having a diverse and representative workforce. We want to help talented people with a passion for technology break through the barriers that prevent them from realising their potential, as we believe that your background shouldn’t determine your future.

By helping to set up the Altitude Foundation, Scott Logic wants to play a key role in supporting young people from deprived backgrounds build careers in STEM industries – those that rely on Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

Too many young people from disadvantaged backgrounds don’t go on to study STEM subjects in further and higher education, and don’t pursue STEM careers – even though by doing so they could transform their lives and prospects.

What the Altitude Foundation does

The Altitude Foundation is uniquely positioned to bring together and work with schools, industry and third-sector partners in the north east of England to deliver transformative outcomes.

The charity is rolling out three core programmes that will support young people at vital stages in their education:

  • Altitude 1600 – subject tasters, mentoring and accessible, creative coding events to inspire and motivate 14-16 year-olds
  • Altitude 1800 – extra-curricular and work experience opportunities, with mentoring support, to cultivate hard and soft skills in 16-18 year-olds that they’ll require for STEM careers
  • Altitude 2100 – access to financial resources for 18-21 year-olds, along with support to shape the best-suited STEM career for each individual through access to training, networks and relevant work experience and internship opportunities

How you can work with the Altitude Foundation

If your organisation is in the charity, voluntary or digital and tech sectors, and shares the Altitude Foundation’s vision of a world where talented young people can achieve successful STEM careers, regardless of background, they would love to hear from you.

The charity strongly believes that by working collaboratively with partners across the north east of England, together they can maximise individual efforts to deliver truly transformative outcomes for young people.

Get in touch here with the Altitude Foundation.

How the Altitude Foundation came to be established

The set-up and launch of the Altitude Foundation was made possible after Scott Logic received a significant payout relating to work carried out for Lehman Brothers in the months before the bank’s collapse.

As our CEO Gary Scott explains, “Generally speaking, we have been growing year-on-year. The business is a success but what we haven’t done is put anything back into the community. The driver of this was that 13 years after launching, we want to put something back. I want something good to come out of something terrible. In a climate where it is all about money, money, money, to ultimately get something out of the financial crisis feels very good.”

Find out more

Visit the Altitude Foundation website to find out more.

You can also find the charity on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.