Who We Are
Unity Foundation expands access to the systems, skills, and opportunities that shape the modern workforce. Our work is grounded in a simple conviction: talent exists everywhere, and access to meaningful opportunity should be just as broadly distributed.
Through workforce development, digital literacy initiatives, mentorship, and open technology ecosystems, Unity Foundation helps individuals and communities build the confidence and technical foundation needed to participate in a rapidly evolving world.
“Talent exists everywhere. Access should be just as broadly distributed.”
Unity Foundation builds scalable talent pipelines and open technology ecosystems to solve complex challenges across industries, serving as an integrated framework for talent, technology, and long-term capability.
Building the next generation of problem solvers across every industry by connecting emerging talent with real-world problems — and giving them the tools to meet them.
Dr. Ebrahim Moshiri
Unity Foundation's work is grounded in rare expertise. Dr. Ebrahim Moshiri earned a Ph.D. with research funded by the National Science Foundation, the EPA, and NASA, then applied artificial intelligence to aerospace systems at McDonnell Douglas, now part of Boeing. In 1993, he founded a software engineering company that helped build the Iridium® satellite network — the world's first global cellular phone system — and went on to train more than 50,000 engineers across Fortune 1000 organizations. In 2020, Dr. Moshiri redirected that expertise toward a different challenge: expanding access and opportunity in communities historically left out of the technology economy. Unity Foundation is the result — combining hands-on learning, open-source technology, and workforce development models built for lasting impact, not one-time experiences. Read Dr. Moshiri's full bio →
The SEED, SPROUT, RIVET Framework
Our model connects three stages into a single pipeline — from shared infrastructure, to talent development, to real institutional placement.
SEED
The shared infrastructure beneath everything we build — open-source solutions that every program and partner can use, adapt, and extend.
SPROUT
The talent pipeline: a cradle-to-career curriculum that starts in K-12 and grows with each learner.
RIVET
Turning contributors into capability — placing interns, young professionals, and career-changers against real institutional needs.
What We Run Today
Teen Creative Lab — run in partnership with the St. Louis County Library, Clark Family Branch. Status: Active.
Smart Greenhouse Program — run in partnership with Hazelwood School District. Status: Year 1 Launching, 2026–27. Learn more →
Center for Access and Achievement — run in partnership with Maryville University, training PK-12 teachers on open-source tools. Status: Ongoing.
Student Ambassadors — run in partnership with Saint Louis University, advising computer science students and mentoring interns. Status: Active, 3rd academic year.
Open Learning Labs — run in-house by Unity Foundation, with expected expansion to North and South St. Louis County and the broader Midwest. Status: Active.
Addressing the Persistent Challenges That Limit Progress
Unity Foundation exists to systematically address three challenges that our 30-year history revealed as the most persistent barriers to human potential in technology and education.
Accelerating Complexity
Problems evolve faster than traditional systems can adapt. We prepare individuals to navigate evolving challenges in environments where technology, industries, and systems continue to change rapidly — by giving them the frameworks to learn, unlearn, and relearn throughout their careers.
Institutional Inertia
Bureaucracy and organizational silos slow adoption of existing solutions. We support approaches that help education, industry, and communities adapt more effectively to emerging needs and opportunities — by bringing practitioner expertise and fresh perspectives from emerging talent directly into institutional settings.
The Talent Gap
Emerging talent lacks clear pathways into meaningful work. We create those pathways through technical education, mentorship, and applied learning experiences — structured so that the gap between a student's potential and their first real opportunity narrows to nothing.
These three challenges directly shape our FY2025–2032 Strategic Direction: our Smart Agriculture & Open Technology Program addresses the Talent Gap, the Connected Community Workforce Development model addresses Accelerating Complexity, and our regional partner network addresses Institutional Inertia.
What Guides Us
All of Us Is Better Than Any One of Us.
Unity Foundation is formally committed to equitable access as a core organizational policy, systematically identifying and removing barriers based on race, income, geography, language, ability, and educational background across all programs and partnerships.
Transparency
We prioritize openness in how programs operate, how technology is built, and how decisions are made.
Broad Access
We work to expand participation and reduce barriers to technical education and opportunity.
Fair Distribution of Opportunity
Talent exists across every community. Access to meaningful opportunities should as well.
Action Over Aspiration
Ideas matter when they create measurable outcomes for real people and real communities.
Technology connects people. The systems behind it should reflect that same spirit: open, collaborative, and built for everyone.