Partners team up to offer free tech training to low-income residents | Education

Called the CB Tech Career Acceleration program, it will include instruction in business English as a second language to help members of the Latino community develop skills to land lucrative jobs in the area’s growing technology sector, according to a joint press release from the Charles E. Lakin Foundation, Google, AIM, Iowa Western Community College, Centro Latino Iowa and the Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce.

The program, made possible by a donation from the Lakin Foundation and a $50,000 grant from Google, is designed to promote greater diversity, equity and inclusion in the local tech industry to increase opportunities for historically underrepresented groups, the press release stated.

The CB Tech Career Acceleration program will serve the most vulnerable in the community by prioritizing acceptance for 20 participants based on the following criteria: they are unemployed or underemployed, live below the poverty line, are actively seeking to enter or advance to a new career in technology in Pottawattamie County or the surrounding southwest Iowa area and are legally eligible to work in the United States. A goal of the program is to have at least half of the participants come from the Latino community, which accounts for more than 10% of the city’s population.

The AIM Institute, an Omaha-based nonprofit that was founded to grow the region’s tech talent pool, will provide its 10-week Foundations of Web Development curriculum while program participants who need it will concurrently receive ESL instruction on workplace readiness through Iowa Western Community College. The tech class will meet twice a week, and the ESL class will meet twice a week, according to Itzel Lopez, vice president of advancement and community relations for AIM.

Centro Latino of Iowa, which has provided culturally competent and language accessible services for the last 20 years, enhances community connections in this partnership through its workforce development program that now supports tech careers.

“Google is proud to partner with our neighboring nonprofits in Council Bluffs on innovative projects that help address the digital divide and encourage STEM learning,” said Dan Harbeke, head of public policy and external affairs for Google in Council Bluffs. “The CB Tech Career Acceleration program will help upskill Iowans and provide greater access to economic opportunities, and we’re honored to be a part of it.”

The free program covers over 100 hours of content, with the first 20 hours of content made possible through funding from the Charles E. Lakin Foundation. The funding was provided to AIM to launch the Southwest Iowa Tech Training Initiative in June 2021 to serve residents in Council Bluffs and surrounding communities. After completion of the program, participants will emerge with qualifications needed for job placement as front-end web developers, a career with an average entry-level salary of more than $55,000, according to ZipRecruiter.

According to the latest available U.S. Census Bureau data, the poverty rate in Council Bluffs is 12.8%, with an average per capita income of $27,051 – more than $7,000 below the U.S. average of $34,103.

“The Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce is thrilled to partner with AIM Institute to receive the Google grant to support the CB Tech Career Acceleration program,” said Alicia Frieze, workforce development director for the chamber. “Having a program that focuses on developing underrepresented populations is critically important – especially as we work to grow our diversity, equity and inclusion programming.”

The program will also provide wrap-around services to Latino participants as they work to develop their skills and prepare for a rewarding career.

Another benefit of the program will be to enlarge the pool of tech workers to help area businesses meet hiring needs, upskill the local labor market and help low-income individuals break out of the cycle of poverty, the press release stated. The program will also further enhance Council Bluffs’ growing reputation as a tech-friendly community with the presence of the Google data center and other large tech employers in the city.

“The CB Tech Career Acceleration program will help participants develop skills needed for placement in what we call H3 jobs – high skill, high-demand, high-pay jobs,” said Lopez. “We are thankful to Google for making this program possible through its funding and for collaboration and support from the Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce, Centro Latino of Iowa and Iowa Western Community College. We all bring resources and expertise to this project that will not only benefit individual participants but will support the long-term goals of the business community in Council Bluffs.”

The chamber will be instrumental in providing support services to help people who complete the program prepare for interviews and connect them with local employers in need of tech talent, the press release stated. After completion of the course, participants will also receive resume preparation, basic computer skills training, LinkedIn profile setup and a one-year license to LinkedIn Learning, which offers expert-led courses that users can access on demand from desktop and mobile devices. They will also receive a Google Chromebook laptop computer.

The course is tentatively scheduled to start on Feb. 28, Lopez said. Applications will be accepted through Feb. 27. For more information, visit www.councbluffsiowa.com/cb-career-acceleration or call Itzel Lopez at 402-591-1042. To apply, go to https://bit.ly/3GTSoYq.