Stacks+Joules is a project-based learning, job placement, and career development program dedicated to positioning tech-marginalized youth and adults to fill a critical labor shortage in the building automation and energy management systems industry. Stacks+Joules demonstrates that the talent and enthusiasm needed to address complex, technology-dependent social, economic and environmental problems is abundantly available, yet largely overlooked. Our hands-on, highly engaging program validates the radical notion that, given the right curriculum, all peoples can master highly technical and complex learning.