Dive Brief:
- The City of Atlanta will launch a Center for Workforce Innovation job training program focusing on high-demand careers. The program will be hosted at Atlanta Technical College as part of a partnership between the college, the city and the Atlanta Committee for Progress.
- An initial $2 million investment from partnering corporations will support three career tracks: aircraft technical skills, information technology (IT), and skilled trades like carpentry and electrical construction. The funding will also support a tuition balance forgiveness program and transportation vouchers for students, while WorkSource Atlanta, the city’s workforce development agency, will offer tuition assistance of up to $10,000 to students who quality.
- The Center will launch a pilot program with 200 students in the fall of 2019.
Dive Insight:
The program draws on support from Atlanta businesses like Delta Air Lines, The Home Depot, SunTrust, Intercontinental Exchange and Georgia Power. The investment not only allows the companies to give back to Atlanta, but help support training of potential future employees in their own fields.
“Our business and civic leaders have a longstanding history of working together to strengthen communities. As we now partner Atlanta’s leading corporations with one of the nation’s best technical college systems, Atlanta residents gain a newfound opportunity to acquire the skills needed to earn higher wages and better provide for themselves and their families,” Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said in a statement.
Amid a changing labor market, retraining programs can help out-of-work or at-need residents find a new job, or bring more diversity to some markets. Atlanta’s focus on information technology as one of its three initial training tracks comes as cities are desperate to attract new tech talent, leading to some cities to invest in their own training programs. New York City, for example, has invested in cybersecurity education and training, as well as a separate program that helps mothers learn how to code.