The U.S. Dept of Labor is giving Washtenaw Community College a $2.9 million grant to help the institution of higher learning retrain more workers in tech and IT careers.
The two-year grant, made through the
Labor Dept.'s Trade Adjustment Assistance for Community Colleges Career Training program, will fund an initiative called IGNITE Michigan that will develop new IT employees in the state.
"There are people who are still out of work or are underemployed or are returning from war and need the opportunity to get a job in a high-growth area," says Michelle Mueller, associated vice president of economic & community development for
Washtenaw Community College.
Washtenaw Community College is partnering with
Ann Arbor SPARK to get IGNITE Michigan off the ground. IGNITE Michigan will help train workers in software development for Java and network and systems administration in Microsoft and Linux/Unix platforms. The programs will be designed to meet the needs of the adult, non-traditional learner and will combine online and classroom instruction approaches.
"Hopefully, we will be able to help a couple hundred people over the life of the grant," Mueller says.
Source: Michelle Mueller, associated vice president of economic & community development for Washtenaw Community College
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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