How Next Chapter helps formerly incarcerated individuals find a home at Dropbox
Tech companies that are built exclusively by young people from homologous backgrounds may seem commonplace in our industry, but we’re proud to represent many different life experiences and professional journeys at Dropbox. Diversity, equity, and inclusion play a critical role in developing teams whose unique voices help us create products that work for people around the globe. That’s why we’ve developed a handful of programs at Dropbox that are geared toward achieving these goals, the most recent of which is a program we joined called Next Chapter.
Next Chapter is a program founded by Slack that aims to shift perceptions and help formerly incarcerated individuals build careers and succeed in tech. This one-of-a-kind program includes financial support, professional and technical mentorship, and re-entry service. The program’s success relies on incredible cross-functional support across Social Impact, EPD (Engineering, Product, and Design), Recruiting, Internal and External Comms Teams, HRBPs (Human Resource Business Partners), and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) teams.
Last December, our Social Impact and EPD teams welcomed our first cohort of apprentices from Next Chapter to Dropbox and we are excited to share that they recently accepted offers with Dropbox as full-time engineers! We could not be happier for these extremely talented individuals who showed their drive, skill, and commitment to Dropbox, and we appreciate the support of the managers and mentors who helped them succeed.
Jacquelyn Horton, Social Impact and Sustainability Manager, told us, “One of Next Chapter’s key messages is ‘talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not’. We believe that corporations like Dropbox can help expand opportunity for formerly incarcerated individuals. It’s no secret that mass incarceration is a huge problem in America and it’s going to take partnership across the public and private sector to really move the needle on this.
When we learned about Slack’s Next Chapter program, it just made sense for us. There’s a huge shortage of engineering talent in the tech community and this is an extremely capable population that has been sorely overlooked. It’s pretty simple, we get great talent and we’re also able to give opportunities to people who deserve it. We still have a lot to learn, but I have no doubt that our apprentices will continue to be successful at Dropbox.”
We are happy to share that we will be continuing the program and welcoming new apprentices from Next Chapter this fall. To view other open positions and opportunities at Dropbox, you can visit our jobs site.
