Baltimore Social Innovation Journal, Fall 2016 Fall 2016 | Page 12

“Geeked Out
on Research”
A self-taught computer nerd shows former prisoners a path to success.
By Lisa Simeone

Jonathan Moore has always been a man
with a plan. And if that plan has changed
over the years, it’s because Moore believes
in doing his homework, learning new skills,
and adapting. If one thing didn’t work out,
he always figured out how to move on to
something else. That kind of resilience has
propelled him from his youthful goals of
becoming “a marketing analyst for Disney or

NA ME: Jonathan Moore
INNOVATI ON: Training formerly incarcerated

people in computer languages sufficient to secure
them well-paying jobs

A G E: 46
HO ME: Cedarcroft/Lake Walker
O CCUPATI ON : Social entrepreneur, IT professional
HO BBI ES: Fly fishing
FU N FACT: Is a fan of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
through golf (!)
T W ITTER HANDLE: @rowdyorbit

pg. 1 1

Coke” to “joining the Navy to become a line
officer and eventually an admiral.”
Yes, an admiral.
Hey, why dream if you’re not going to
dream big?
Moore has since tempered his naval
aspirations, though not his grand ambitions.
His current project is training men and
women recently released from prison to be
proficient in a dizzying array of computer
programming languages: HTML, CSS, Java,
Ruby, SQL, jQuery, and Drupal, with the goal
of preparing them to step into an entry-level
job at a salary of $45,000 a year.
But Moore recognizes that just learning
the nuts and bolts of information technology
isn’t enough. He’s also partnering with
social service professionals to work with
these new students on financial literacy,
resume-writing, job interviews – a whole
panoply of professional development skills.
The students will attend class from 9 to 5
every day, five days a week, for 34 weeks
– essentially a school year. They’ll also be
paid a stipend of $600 a month. The classes