Self-eSTEM
FOLLOW US
Self-eSTEM
Published on March 4, 2026
Oakland, California. – March 04, 2026 – Self-eSTEM, an Oakland-based nonprofit dedicated to empowering youth and young professionals, today announced the nationwide expansion of its AI Acceleration Initiative for under-resourced communities. The organization is also expanding its Digital & AI Literacy curriculum to provide more advanced AI training that would teach students how to build AI agents, enhance workflows, and design full AI-driven systems.
Designed to close the widening Digital and AI Literacy Gap in underserved areas throughout the U.S., the AI Acceleration Initiative equips participants with advanced artificial intelligence skills needed to excel in the country’s fastest-growing and highest-paying career fields. Self-eSTEM launched its first interactive Digital & AI community-based workshop in February 2025 and since then has held two others. The nonprofit plans to hold more training in the San Francisco Bay Area and eventually expand its program to major cities across the country, including Los Angeles, Houston, St. Louis, Atlanta, Miami, and New York.
Unlike other STEM education programs, Self-eSTEM provides a comprehensive “workforce development and STEM skills training aligned to the Future of Work.”™ The program covers the basics and progresses to advance AI and STEM concepts. During training sessions, instructors break down what AI is and how to use and implement AI in everyday life, using real world examples and applications. Participants walk away with new skills they can apply immediately in their life, job, or business, meeting the needs of an AI-powered workforce.
Self-eSTEM’s AI Acceleration Initiative, under its Community-Based Program, provides curriculum and formal training tailored to all age groups, from Generation Alpha to Baby Boomers. In addition to its core Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) curriculum for elementary to high school-aged youth, the nonprofit organizes both in-person and virtual, community-based workshops for working professionals and business owners.
The expansion comes at a pivotal time for public schools across the country as well as workers struggling to adapt to the AI technical revolution. In April 2025, President Trump signed the executive order “Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth,” establishing the White House Task Force on AI Education and accelerating federal efforts to prepare the next generation for an AI-driven economy. The AI Acceleration Initiative directly supports these national priorities, serving as a community-based implementation partner that ensures opportunity youth are not left behind.
Companies are already beginning to use AI technology for entry-level tasks once performed by recent college graduates or “early in career” individuals. Many organizations are also developing and implementing workforce strategies that will involve integrating AI into its operations and workflows on a much larger scale. This shift is fundamentally reshaping job roles, required skill sets, and how organizations prepare their current and future workforce to adapt and lead in an AI-enabled economy.
Building on Self-eSTEM’s tiered learning model, the AI Acceleration Initiative expands reach of its existing foundational track and introduces new intermediate and advanced tracks:
Students will gain critical understanding of:
The newly added tier trains participants to:
In Tier 3, participants advance from building workflows to designing full AI-driven systems, learning to translate real-world processes into efficient, automated solutions.
This approach moves participants from consumers of technology to creators, a proven pathway to economic mobility and high-wage STEM careers.
By 2030, 60% of U.S. jobs will have tasks significantly modified by AI, and under-resourced communities, especially school districts like Oakland Unified School District, lack consistent access to AI tools, training and policy guidance.
“Currently, entire communities are locked out of the education and training that will define the Future of Work,” said Adamaka Ajaelo, Founding Executive Director of Self-eSTEM, Strategic Workforce Planner and a People Analytics pioneer. “Self-eSTEM’s AI Acceleration Initiative is essential for ensuring that multiple generations from all communities are prepared.”
A former Silicon Valley executive and mathematician, Adamaka has developed AI-driven data models and analytics that influenced more than $50 billion in workforce strategies across Meta, Visa, Adobe, Workday, Cisco and Kaiser Permanente. She has leveraged her insight and industry-level rigor to develop STEM training and workforce development for the curriculum used in her organization.
“In Silicon Valley, I helped create the blueprint for strategic workforce planning and pioneered people analytics, helping major tech companies understand the talent they would need to build the future,” Ajaelo said. “But I realized that if we weren’t intentionally preparing the next generation to step into those roles, the future workforce wouldn’t reflect the communities around us. That’s why I founded Self-eSTEM and developed a comprehensive STEM and Future of Work curriculum, in digital and AI literacy, that is now being used as an integrated model by schools and nonprofits to prepare everyone for careers in technology and beyond.”
Since being founded in 2014 while Adamaka was still working in Silicon Valley, Self-eSTEM’s multi-year programs have:
Two of the program’s early successes include the following:
The AI Acceleration Initiative is a key initiative within Self-eSTEM’s Future of Work Campaign, the organizations’ strategic response to a rapidly shifting global economy. Self-eSTEM empowers underrepresented talent by providing the technical fluency and cognitive agility required to thrive in the industries of tomorrow. The Initiative is part of a three-year investment strategy designed to:
“Our students are not just preparing for the jobs of tomorrow, they are building the skills to be tomorrow’s innovators,” Ajaelo said. “Investing in this program is investing in your country’s future.”
Self-eSTEM is an Oakland-based nonprofit dedicated to empowering under-resourced youth and young professionals by providing early, sustained access to STEM education, mentorship and career pathways, aligned to the Future of Work. Through hands-on training and community responsive learning, Self-eSTEM ignites pride, purpose and possibility by strengthening digital, technical, and leadership skills, sustaining STEM identities, and ensuring communities thrive socially and economically in the innovation economy.
To support the AI Acceleration Initiative or contribute to the Self-eSTEM Future of Work Campaign, visit www.selfestem.org.
For partnership opportunities, media interviews, or investment inquiries, contact Adamaka Ajaelo at [email protected] or (510) 927-5571.
www.linkedin.com/company/self-estem
Self-eSTEM Mission Statement
Self-eSTEM Student Interviews
Self-eSTEM Photos