Hopeworks is betting AI can open doors for young workers - Chalkbeat

Sign up for Chalkbeat Newark’s free newsletter to get the latest news about the city’s public school system delivered to your inbox.

Monajah Williams built her first website just a few months ago. Before then, she didn’t know how to code or use HTML.

After years of unstable jobs in retail and food service that left her feeling drained and unmotivated, Williams, 25, said she’s finally seeing a glimmer of hope for her career. At Hopeworks’ new training room in Newark, Williams is learning to code, build websites, and use artificial intelligence as she prepares for a career in tech.

The program is betting that young workers like Williams, between 17 and 26, can hold their own in an evolving and increasingly competitive job market being redefined by AI and emerging technologies.

Between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., trainees work in an open-style layout, similar to that of a regular office. Conference rooms, a lunchroom, and couches for morning huddles give trainees a chance to collaborate on projects, interview with AI tools, and use other digital tools to support their work.

“It is hard to find a job right now but I feel like there’s a lot of opportunities with these careers,” Williams said.

Entry-level jobs that heavily use AI are growing fast, up 35% since 2019, while other entry-level jobs have shrunk 10% over the same period, according to PwC’s 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer. Those growing jobs also expect entry-level workers to bring senior-level skills such as judgment and leadership. Hopeworks says it’s training young adults for exactly those kinds of jobs.

“What we find is that employers want folks who can adapt quickly to emergent technologies, who have human skills, professional social emotional skills, take feedback well, and aren’t afraid of new technologies,” said Dan Rhoton, CEO of Hopeworks.

The nonprofit trains young adults in technical and workforce skills, prepares them for interviews and professional settings, and then places them in paid jobs. Hopeworks started in Camden, later expanded to Philadelphia, and this month opened its Newark site on Broad Street. Trainees spend two to three months learning web development, coding, GIS mapping, medical billing, and professionalism before moving into six-month paid internships at Hopeworks’ own businesses. From there, they are placed in full-time jobs with other employers.

Most Hopeworks trainees have never used AI but are curious about what it can do.

Williams said she uses AI regularly in her training. As she built her first website, she asked ChatGPT to explain concepts she didn’t understand and apply what she had already learned rather than finish the work for her. That’s a skill she was never exposed to in the city’s public school system, said Williams, a 2019 alum.

In recent years, Newark Public Schools has rolled out new AI, including Khanmmigo, an AI tutoring chatbot, Amira Learning, an AI literacy screener, and installed thousands of AI cameras across schools. Despite the aggressive expansion, the district has not said how it plans to keep students safe as it engages with new technologies.

For Trindalah DeLane-Smith, senior site director at Hopeworks Newark, that’s the key: teaching young adults to use AI as a tool rather than a shortcut.

“They are learning the platforms, they use AI as a tool, but they’re learning how to develop and build these platforms from scratch,” DeLane-Smith added.

Trainees also use Dell’s GenAI mock interview tool, which launched at Hopeworks Newark last week. The virtual assistant watches program trainees’ posture, eye contact, and interview responses, then generates a scorecard with tips on how to improve their interviews.

Although Williams hasn’t used the new tool yet, she is eager to put her skills to the test. She said she often gets nervous during job interviews but thinks interviewing with an AI tool first would help her feel more comfortable.

Rhoton says that’s another benefit of training the next generation to use AI. His team found that young adults will often play it safe with a human interviewer because they want the job. But with AI, they feel like they can fail, reset, and try a completely different approach to the interview with much less risk.

“I don’t know about you but I’m not really worried about what the AI thinks. Whereas this human, maybe an executive from J.P. Morgan, I’m going to do everything very buttoned up,” Rhoton added.

Across its three locations, Hopeworks currently places 20 to 30 young adults into jobs each month. At its Camden and Philadelphia sites, graduates earn an average salary of $43,276 and retain jobs at a 92.11% rate after 12 months, according to the organization’s 2025 impact report.

Most recently, DeLane-Smith said a trainee who is still completing her internship was offered a job at pocstock, an AI company that shares Hopeworks’ Newark building. The trainee met the company’s CEO in an elevator and impressed him enough that he invited her for an interview with plans to hire her full time.

As Williams enters her fourth month of the program and prepares for an internship, she also hopes she can impress tech companies. She said she finally feels ready to apply for new jobs and “put myself out there.”

Jessie Gómez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org.