Capstone Conversation by Jared Asch
Sep 9, 2026 · 36 min · 13 segments
In this episode of The Capstone Conversation, host Jared speaks with Gabe Hanzel-Sella, national program director at The Growth Sector, a San Francisco-based nonprofit founded in 2008 that helps…
You're trying to connect young adults, we'll say in this case, to engineering experiences, STEM careers, more on that hands-on
programs are you offering? And then we'll dive in a little further about how you work with employers and recruit the kids and all of that.
And I think Growth Sector was really founded as a practical organization, as an organization really focused on breaking down barriers between employees.
let's call them job seekers, but really anyone and the highest paying jobs out there, the workforce system, the workforce development system.
And when you think about programs funded by the workforce development boards, you know, it's like all about how do we Get someone trained up and into the workforce really quickly.
There's a lot of six-week, six-month Google certificate or even medical assistant programs that can get people trained up at a community college at a low cost and into the workforce quickly.
I think growth sector, really, we've focused on how do we get folks through bachelor's degrees that are going to get them the highest paying jobs? And in this case, we really think there's a ton of opportunity in engineering.
We, it feels like there's like one workforce system for people with, from certain zip codes who are like, have an expectation of college and you go to college and that's your workforce development, right? You graduate with a bachelor's degree and many more doors are open to you.
And then for so many other job seekers, the workforce development provides like a separate and different system, which are certificates and other degrees that are not bachelor's degrees.
And I think one of the things that growth sector has been focused on In my time, I've been with them for 13 years.
It's really how to get people who may not have been on track or may not have thought of themselves as folks going into engineering, being engineers, getting bachelor's degrees in engineering and providing really a structured, supported multi-year pathway from engineering where students enter community college through transfer to degrees and careers in engineering.
It's obviously a long route, right? Even four years is probably underselling the engineering degree pathway these days.
It's more five for most of our students, but it's also the best opportunity Job credential anyone can have, right? I think there was recently a Wall Street Journal report that even of bachelor's degree earners, over the 15 years after degree completion, engineers earn like almost $150,000 more than the average bachelor's degree earner.
You're trying to connect young adults, we'll say in this case, to engineering experiences, STEM careers, more on that hands-on
programs are you offering? And then we'll dive in a little further about how you work with employers and recruit the kids and all of that.
And I think Growth Sector was really founded as a practical organization, as an organization really focused on breaking down barriers between employees.
let's call them job seekers, but really anyone and the highest paying jobs out there, the workforce system, the workforce development system.
And when you think about programs funded by the workforce development boards, you know, it's like all about how do we Get someone trained up and into the workforce really quickly.
There's a lot of six-week, six-month Google certificate or even medical assistant programs that can get people trained up at a community college at a low cost and into the workforce quickly.
I think growth sector, really, we've focused on how do we get folks through bachelor's degrees that are going to get them the highest paying jobs? And in this case, we really think there's a ton of opportunity in engineering.
We, it feels like there's like one workforce system for people with, from certain zip codes who are like, have an expectation of college and you go to college and that's your workforce development, right? You graduate with a bachelor's degree and many more doors are open to you.
And then for so many other job seekers, the workforce development provides like a separate and different system, which are certificates and other degrees that are not bachelor's degrees.
And I think one of the things that growth sector has been focused on In my time, I've been with them for 13 years.
It's really how to get people who may not have been on track or may not have thought of themselves as folks going into engineering, being engineers, getting bachelor's degrees in engineering and providing really a structured, supported multi-year pathway from engineering where students enter community college through transfer to degrees and careers in engineering.
It's obviously a long route, right? Even four years is probably underselling the engineering degree pathway these days.
It's more five for most of our students, but it's also the best opportunity Job credential anyone can have, right? I think there was recently a Wall Street Journal report that even of bachelor's degree earners, over the 15 years after degree completion, engineers earn like almost $150,000 more than the average bachelor's degree earner.
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