The Future is Built Here.
The FORGE at Roxbury Community College is where opportunity youth from Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan become credentialed, career-ready technologists. No tuition. No prior experience required. A paycheck from day one.
THE INITIATIVE
Future-Oriented Registered Guild for Employment
The FORGE is a Workforce Innovation Hub — the first of its kind in Greater Boston — hosted at Roxbury Community College and powered by The Loop Lab. Since 2017 The Loop Lab has been building workforce pathways for opportunity youth in Greater Boston with a 90% program completion rate and 79% of graduates still economically active five years later. The FORGE is where that work found a permanent home.
It brings two nationally recognized, earn-while-you-learn apprenticeship programs to the heart of the community they were built to serve. The talent was never missing. The opportunity was.
Every FORGE graduate earns the Orange Jacket — a visible symbol worn in this city that says: this person was trained, tested, and ready. As City Year’s red jacket signals a generation committed to service in education, the Orange Jacket signals a new generation of credentialed technologists forged in communities that have historically been locked out of the technology economy.
“We didn’t build The FORGE as a program. We built it as a promise — that young people from these neighborhoods would have what they were always owed: a real path, a real credential, and a real paycheck.”
— Christopher Hope, Founder & Executive Director, The Loop Lab
TWO PATHWAYS. ONE ADDRESS.
Choose Your Path Into the Future
Professional Audio-Visual Production
Earn while you learn. Build a career from day one.
The ProAV Trades Registered Apprenticeship is a structured, paid earn-while-you-learn program in professional audio-visual production. From live sound and video production to commercial AV installation, collaboration spaces, and broadcast facilities — graduates leave with the technical skills, professional credentials, and connections to build a lasting career.
Duration: 14 months
Classroom instruction: 250 hours — AVIXA-aligned
Paid on-the-job training: 1,000+ hours — paid W-2 employment
Cost: Zero — Workforce Pell funded
College credits: Up to 30 — Lesley College of Art and Design
Degree pathways: Animation · Digital Filmmaking · Marketing · Graphic Design
Certifications: AVIXA CTS · BICSI pathway
Digital credentials: Verified and shareable via Certifier.io
What you will learn:
Professional audio systems · Video production and post-production · AV system installation · Cable management and rack building · Collaboration space technology · Broadcasting and live streaming · Live event production · Resume and portfolio development
Graduates earn a registered apprenticeship certificate and up to 30 college credits toward a BFA at Lesley College of Art and Design — earned during the program, at no additional cost.
Digital credentials verified and instantly shareable through Certifier.io.
Artificial Intelligence & Civic Technology
Train in the technology shaping the world. Use it to change yours.
The AI Civic Corps is the first registered apprenticeship program in the country training opportunity youth as AI practitioners. Participants build fluency in artificial intelligence, generative AI tools, workflow automation, and civic technology — and leave with the credentials and connections to work at the intersection of technology, public service, and community impact. The United Nations has engaged with the AI Civic Corps as a potentially replicable global model. Boston is where it starts.
Duration: 12 months
Classroom instruction: 250+ hours
Paid on-the-job training: 1,000+ hours — paid W-2 employment
Cost: Zero — Workforce Pell funded
Entry pathway: RCC’s free AI Certificate (15 hrs) feeds directly in
College Credits: Earned during the program at no additional cost
Digital credentials: Industry micro-credientials via Certifier.io
What you will learn:
AI and machine learning foundations · Generative AI tools and large language models · Prompt engineering and custom AI workflows · AI agents and automation · Data literacy for civic purposes · Ethical AI and bias detection · AI tools for small business and nonprofits · AI policy literacy including H.R. 6356 — the AI Civil Rights Act
THE FOUNDATION
Every FORGE Program Is Built on Five Commitments
Earn While You Learn
A paycheck from day one.
Both programs pay participants through W-2 employment with employer partners from the moment on-the-job training begins. Unpaid training is a privilege. The FORGE pays.
Workforce Pell Funded
No tuition. No debt.
Eligible participants access both programs through Workforce Pell grants — administered through RCC’s Title IV institutional infrastructure. Federally backed. Financially sustainable.
College Credits Included
A credential & a degree pathway
Participants earn college credits during the program at no additional cost — credits that stack toward degrees at Lesley College of Art and Design and RCC.
The Orange Jacket
Visible. Recognized. Earned.
Every FORGE graduate wears it. It is not just a credential. It is a signal — that this person was trained, tested, and ready to build.
Zero Barriers to Entry
No experience. No GPA. No tuition.
Admission is based on hunger, curiosity, and commitment. Those qualities are distributed equally across every zip code in this city.
YOUR CREDENTIAL. YOUR PROOF.
Every FORGE Credential Is Verified, Shareable, and Built to Last
Every certificate, micro-credential, and program completion issued through The FORGE is digitally verified through Certifier.io. The moment you earn it, you can share it — on LinkedIn, in an email, in a job application, on your phone. Permanently on record. Instantly verifiable by any employer anywhere.
Program Completion Certificate
Issued upon graduation. Verifies program name, hours completed, competencies achieved, and completion date. Shareable via Certifier.io verified link.
Industry Micro-Credentials
Issued at defined milestones throughout the program — not just at the end. Participants build a credential portfolio as they progress. Each maps to a specific competency — generative AI tools, live sound production, ethical AI deployment, AV system installation, and more.
College Credit Verification
Up to 30 college credits articulated through Lesley College of Art and Design for ProAV graduates — documented and shareable alongside Certifier.io credentials toward a BFA degree.
“A credential only matters if someone can verify it. Certifier.io means every FORGE graduate walks out with proof that works everywhere — instantly, permanently, professionally.”
— Christopher Hope, Founder & Executive Director, The Loop Lab
THE PROOF
Nine Years of Evidence
90%
Program completion rate
85%
Positive outcome at one year — employment, education, or entrepreneurship
$100K+
Paid annually in wages to apprentices during training
79%
Economically active at five years
2
Telly Award-winning productions
“A lot of programs can show you a 30-day placement rate. We can show you where people are five years down the road.”
— Christopher Hope, Founder & Executive Director, The Loop Lab
THE CAMPUS
A Workforce Hub in the Neighborhood That Built Boston
Roxbury Community College sits at the center of the communities The Loop Lab has served since 2017 — Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan. The FORGE at RCC means apprentices do not have to travel across the city to access opportunity. Opportunity comes to their neighborhood. That is not a logistical detail. That is the mission made physical.
RCC brings Title IV institutional infrastructure that enables Workforce Pell grants, a Media Arts Center with classroom and production facilities, a forthcoming free AI certificate program that connects directly to the AI Civic Corps, and a student body that is the precise population The Loop Lab was built to serve.
THE SYMBOL
Earn the Jacket. Wear the Future.
City Year’s red jacket signals a generation committed to service in education. The Orange Jacket signals something new — a generation of credentialed, career-ready technologists forged in communities that have always been first to experience disruption and last to benefit from opportunity.
When you see an Orange Jacket in Boston — in a server room, on a production set, in a city hall — you are looking at someone The FORGE built. Someone who was trained, tested, and invested in. Someone who earned it.
The Orange Jacket ceremony is a milestone. Not a formality. Every graduate receives it in a room full of the people who believed in them. That moment is irreversible. You cannot take it back from someone.
The Orange Jacket Fund — coming soon.
Support a graduate. Fund the jacket. Change a life.
GET INVOLVED
The FORGE Is Built for You — Whoever You Are
For Students
You are 18–26. You are ready. No prior experience. No tuition. A paycheck from day one. The FORGE was built for young adults from Greater Boston who are hungry, curious, and ready to build a career in professional media, technology, or AI.
Apply Now →
For Institutions
RCC is the proof of concept. The FORGE is designed to replicate — same curriculum, same credentials, same Orange Jacket — in communities across the country that have been waiting for exactly this.
Become a FORGE Campus →
For Employers
The FORGE produces trained, credentialed technologists ready for commercial projects, creative production, and AI-enabled workflows — with employer-attested on-the-job training hours and Certifier.io verified credentials.
Become an Employer Partner →
For Funders
The FORGE is embedded in a community college, connected to real employers, and designed to outlast any single funding cycle. If your foundation invests in workforce development, AI equity, or community-rooted postsecondary partnerships — we want to talk.
Connect With Us →
COMMON QUESTIONS
Everything You Need to Know
-
No. We look for hunger, curiosity, and commitment — not a resume. If you are ready to show up and do the work, you are eligible to apply.
-
Yes. Both FORGE programs are free to eligible participants through Workforce Pell grants, administered by Roxbury Community College. You pay nothing to attend. You earn while you train.
-
Workforce Pell is federal financial aid for eligible participants in registered apprenticeship programs. Eligibility is determined through RCC’s financial aid office. Our admissions team will walk you through the process — you do not navigate it alone.
-
Most training programs ask you to stop working while you learn. The FORGE pays you a W-2 wage through employer partners from the day your on-the-job training begins. You also earn up to 30 college credits and Certifier.io verified credentials that work anywhere.
-
The Orange Jacket is the symbol every FORGE graduate earns. It is recognized by employers in our network and worn publicly as a mark of belonging to a movement — the way City Year’s red jacket is recognized in Boston.
-
The ProAV Trades Apprenticeship and the AI Civic Corps are separate programs with separate applications. Talk to our admissions team about your goals and we will help you find the right path.
-
The FORGE at RCC is housed in Roxbury Community College’s Media Arts Center, 1234 Columbus Avenue, Roxbury Crossing, Massachusetts 02120 — accessible by T on the Orange Line at Roxbury Crossing station.
-
You leave with a registered apprenticeship certificate, Certifier.io verified credentials, up to 30 college credits, and a network of employer partners who know what the Orange Jacket means. Our alumni team tracks outcomes and stays connected with graduates at one year and five years post-completion.