AXIS Lending Academy, a non-profit education program that offers free hybrid education training to people seeking a career in the mortgage industry, announced the formal launch of its operations.

AXIS Lending Academy provides a 90-day education program in which students are taught and mentored by a team of experienced leaders for a career in the mortgage industry. Mortgage lenders that reach out to AXIS Lending Academy for new talent will receive candidates who are trained in modern-day mortgage operations and who will help them achieve better diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), AXIS stated in the release.

By hiring highly trained people who are new to the industry instead of spending large salaries and signing bonuses on veteran talent, AXIS Lending Academy said it will also help mortgage lenders lower the costs of originating loans.

“AXIS Lending Academy will be educating individuals who are seeking new careers, whether they were in industries that were hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic or come from low-income communities,” the company said. “In addition to job training, students will receive education in personal financial planning to prepare them to become homeowners themselves. They will also receive wellness training, so they are prepared for their new career in mind, body and soul.”

Graduates will be offered paid internships and receive job placement assistance.

“Because AXIS graduates will have no previous experience in the mortgage industry, they will bring new perspective and help us move the industry forward,” AXIS Lending Academy co-founder and Chair Paul Gigliotti said in the release. “AXIS will also help mortgage lenders build workforces that reflect greater diversity—not just racial diversity, but diversity among sexual orientation, culture and religion. Having known the feeling of exclusion because of my own sexual orientation, I want to help make the mortgage industry a more inclusive place and encourage new ways of doing business.”

 AXIS Lending Academy Executive Vice President Bianca Broos said the right education changed the trajectory of her life.

“As the first person in my family with some form of formal education, I understand how important education is to one’s career,” she said. “Participating in the housing industry has also transformed my earning potential and changed the trajectory of my life, and I’m thrilled to be able to offer others the same opportunities.”

 The first class at AXIS Lending Academy began on May 7 and is expected to graduate in August.