TechIndiana and InnoPower Indy Launch Pre-Apprenticeship Pipeline into Indiana’s Techonology Talent Pathway

INDIANAPOLIS, IN — TechIndiana, Indiana’s employer-led talent engine for the AI era and the parent organization of the Indiana Tech Talent Association, and InnoPower Indy Inc. today announced a memorandum of understanding to connect “High School to the Pros” (HSTP) programming with TechIndiana’s Indiana Career Apprenticeship Pathway (INCAP) for students pursuing technology careers.

High School to the Pros (www.highschooltopros.org) is an economic mobility initiative powered by InnoPower Indy Inc. Founded by former NFL player Emil Ekiyor and Andrea Ekiyor — a former NCAA Division I Basketball player at Tennessee State University who serves as HSTP’s Executive Director — the initiative pairs an entrepreneurial mindset and an AI curriculum with employer-connected technology pipelines across Marion County career centers and CTE high schools, preparing students to apply to INCAP as rising juniors.

Indiana’s technology workforce remains undersized relative to the rest of the country — roughly 3.7–4.0% of Indiana’s workforce works in tech, compared to 5.8% nationally, according to TechIndiana’s analysis of CompTIA and Indiana Department of Workforce Development data. At the same time, AI adoption is outpacing structured training: 82.5% of Indiana organizations have adopted AI, but 60% provide no structured training for it, per the Ball State CICS Indiana AI Workforce Report (2025) — a gap TechIndiana’s research found carries a 2.96× outcome multiplier when training is in place.

DRAFT QUOTE — FOR REVIEW AND EDIT BEFORE RELEASE

 “Indiana can’t recruit its way out of a workforce gap this size — we have to build the pipeline ourselves, starting earlier than most people think to look. InnoPower reaches students before they ever apply to an apprenticeship. That’s exactly the kind of on-ramp our technology pathways need.”

— Dennis Trinkle, President & CEO, TechIndiana

The Career Center as the Launching Pad

The partnership activates active Marion County career centers and CTE high schools during the standard school day, including Walker Career Center (MSD Warren Township), McKenzie Center for Innovation & Technology (MSD Lawrence Township), J. Everett Light Career Center and anchor partner North Central High School (MSD Washington Township), and The Match High School & Career Center (Matchbook Learning, founded by Sajan George). Students don’t leave their school — the programming comes directly to them.

TechIndiana and InnoPower are targeting 20% growth in career-center enrollment across these sites over the next two years, building a larger base of students moving into INCAP’s technology pathways.

“Talent is equally distributed in our city — opportunity is not. A career center is one of the most underestimated launching pads we have. A student can walk in, earn a real credential, and walk out ready not just to work in technology but to build something on top of it. The trade or technical skill is the entry point. Entrepreneurial mindset and AI fluency are what turn that entry point into a career.”

— Emil Ekiyor, Founder and CEO, InnoPower

“When we bring sports-level scouting, rigorous coaching, and dual-credit academics directly into the school day, young people recognize their own value immediately. We are proving that career center students can earn college credits, master AI tools, and compete for $40,000+ good jobs right out of high school.”

— Andrea Ekiyor, Executive Director, High School to the Pros

Two Core Pillars Delivered During the School Day

• Pillar 1 — The Entrepreneurial Engine: Students earn up to 18 transferable Ivy Tech Community College dual-credit hours (ENTR 100–218) during the school day at no cost, graduating with an Ivy Tech Entrepreneurship Certificate alongside their high school diploma and technical credentials. Courses cover problem-solving through creative thinking, opportunity recognition, resilience, initiative, and resource leveraging applied to tech and trade ventures.
• Pillar 2 — AI Literacy & The HSTP AI Studio: Students complete a tiered micro-credential track featuring a 2-hour AI Foundations workshop and a 24-hour Prompt Engineering / AI Specialist certification. Students utilize InnoPower’s custom AI platform (innopower.ai) — featuring Career and Business tracks with six dedicated tools — to conduct market research, build resumes without prior work history, and create business plans on their mobile devices.

• 92% program completion rate
• 85% college credit achievement
• 250+ student participants to date
• 3+ student-led ventures launched

INCAP Technology Pathway Connectivity

Students on a technology track gain a direct bridge through TechIndiana’s INCAP employer network to pre-apprenticeship exposure such as job shadows, employer site visits, and panels, and where eligible, structured apprenticeship placement. INCAP apprenticeships are a state-designed career apprenticeship system and are not registered with the U.S. Department of Labor.

Current Footprint & Regional Scale

The program is active across key Marion County sites including Walker Career Center, McKenzie Center, J. Everett Light Career Center, North Central High School, and The Match High School & Career Center, with planned expansion to Area 31 Career Center (serving six township districts) in Fall 2026. TechIndiana and InnoPower are targeting roughly 245 students across initial sites in Year 1, scaling to 425+ students across up to 10 Marion County sites by the 2027–2028 academic year.

“The work speaks for itself,” added Ekiyor. “Come see it.”

ABOUT TECHINDIANA

TechIndiana is Indiana’s employer-led talent engine for the AI era — a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and the parent organization overseeing the Indiana Tech Talent Association. TechIndiana’s mission spans the state’s full technology talent pipeline, from youth apprenticeship to adult upskilling and career advancement. Through the Indiana Career Apprenticeship Pathway (INCAP), a state-designed career apprenticeship system for technology roles not registered with the U.S. Department of Labor, TechIndiana connects employers directly to job-ready talent. Learn more at techindiana.org.

ABOUT INNOPOWER INDY INC.

InnoPower Indy Inc. is an Indianapolis-based 501(c)(3) non-profit enterprise dedicated to accelerating economic productivity, upskilling, and AI democratization for under-resourced communities. Through its flagship “High School to the Pros” (HSTP) initiative and proprietary AI learning tools (innopower.ai), InnoPower builds structured talent development pipelines for the next generation of entrepreneurs, technologists, and skilled professionals. Learn more at highschooltopros.org and innopower.ai.

InnoPower’s program delivery in Marion County is currently funded and supported by the Indianapolis African American Quality of Life Initiative (IAAQLI). This funding supports InnoPower’s components only and does not extend to TechIndiana’s participation in this partnership.

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