The White House announced today that Pensacola will be included in the expansion of its TechHire Initiative to 20 cities, states, and rural areas. Mobile, Ala. and several communities in Florida are also part of the expansion.
The TechHire initiative began in March 2015. It’s based on a simple idea: Building a pipeline of tech talent can bring new jobs to local economies, facilitate business growth, and give local residents a pathway into the middle class. To build such a pipeline, TechHire addresses employers’ great need for technology talent with emerging models for quickly training people with limited ingoing technology skills to be job-ready in months, not years.
The TechHire Initiative works with communities and employers on three key actions:
*Opening up recruiting and hiring pathways for people without traditional credentials who can demonstrate that they have the skills to succeed in a tech job regardless of where those skills were attained.
*Recruiting, incubating, and expanding accelerated tech learning programs – such as high quality coding bootcamps and innovative online training – which enable interested, unexperienced students to rapidly gain tech skills.
*Connecting people to jobs by investing in and working with organizations that can vouch for those who have the skills to do the job, but who may lack the typical profile of education and experience.
The 20 communities joining the TechHire initiative include:
Alachua and Bradford Counties, FL
Anchorage, AL
Arizona (State of)
Bellevue, WA
Boston, MA
Carroll County, MD
Central Florida
El Paso County, TX
Howard County, MD
Mobile, AL
Oklahoma City, OK
Omaha, NE
Pensacola, FL
Puerto Rico
Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico
Stamford, CT
Tampa Bay, FL
Toledo, OH
Trenton City, NJ
Tulsa, OK
For the Pensacola effort, Pensacola State College will collaborate with Innovation Coast, Inc., which includes community workforce partners Global Business Solutions, Inc. (GBSI), Technical Software Services, Inc. (TECHSOFT), Gulf Power Company, AppRiver, and Institute of Human & Machine Cognition (IHMC), to train and place 200 technology workers by 2020.
With a focus on veterans, minorities, and economically disadvantaged individuals in the Pensacola area, students can gain skills across IT fields, including cybersecurity, coding, and networking. In addition to training, this initiative includes opportunities to make connections with potential employers and reduce unemployment.
Pensacola State College is hosting a press conference tomorrow 11 a.m. at Pensacola State College District Board Room, Building 7, 1000 College Blvd.
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