Free career training · Des Moines, Iowa

There is hope
in this city.

Change Course walks alongside Leaders, from setback to a career that holds. The training is free, and a Coach stays with you the whole way.

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We’ll post the next information session date soon. Applications stay open year-round.

The Elites · Change Course cohort, 2026

I want a new career

Free training and a Coach who stays with you.

Start your application

I want to fund this

Give once, give monthly, or sponsor a Leader through the whole program.

Ways to give

I want to walk with someone

Allies show up Monday nights and stay for the whole 16 weeks.

Become an Ally

My organization wants in

Hire, refer, host, sponsor, or send a team. Most partnerships start with one conversation.

Partner with us

How it works

16 weeks.
Full-time. Free.

Leaders spend the first weeks rebuilding the foundation: mindset, money, communication, professionalism. Then a certificate in a real career track. Then a job, with Coaches working the search alongside them. Then they come back and do it for the next cohort.

See the full program

01

Personal Development

Seven weeks of mindset, financial health, communication, and professionalism. 100+ hours.

02

Career Skills Track

A professional certificate or pre-apprenticeship in the track a Leader chooses.

03

Career Launch

Interviews, employer introductions, and a Coach working the search with you.

04

Graduation & Commission

We commission graduates to do for their community what this one did for them. Most come back to lead.

In their words

This Is My Story

Every cohort, Leaders sit down and tell it themselves: what they were carrying when they walked in, and what changed. They write it, and no staff sit in the room.

Four of them are here. The rest are in the media library.

Watch the story

What changes when someone finishes

See the 2025 annual report

371%

Average wage increase after graduation

41

People out of poverty, counting dependents

17

Leaders graduated in 2025

Average monthly wage

$625 $2,951

What a Leader earned before Change Course, and after. Graduates start at $17.04 an hour on average.

Class of 2025

“When I got the email saying I was accepted into Change Course, it felt like a tiny sliver of hope in a darkness I couldn’t navigate. More than that, it felt like someone was waiting for me — someone who actually wanted to help.”
Diane · 2025 graduate

Four other ways in

Give monthly Steady support, month to month. Become an Ally Mondays, 6 to 8pm, for 16 weeks. Hire a graduate Certified and ready to work. Refer someone Two minutes. We take it from there.

Business Ventures

Two companies that pay real wages.

Change Course runs its own businesses so Leaders can work while they train, and so the program doesn’t run on generosity alone. Hire them, and you fund the program twice.

Change Course Cleaning: crew at work