First Students Graduate from Innovate Birmingham Regional Workforce Partnership Initiative.
Published: July 31, 2017
By: Courtesy of UAB
A local program that trains unemployed or underemployed young area adults for high-demand information technology careers has graduated its first class of 18 students.
In 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor Education and Training Administration awarded roughly $6 million to the Innovate Birmingham Regional Workforce Partnership, a broad coalition of leaders committed to fostering economic growth for the region and offering better opportunities for young adults, led by UAB.
Students were selected for the program via a rigorous interview and screening process that assessed their motivation, competency and career vision, and they completed 12 weeks of full-time intensive technical and professional training at Innovation Depot to prepare them for immediate entry into the IT workforce. Classes are the product of partnerships with McKinsey Social Initiative, and Covalence, a Birmingham technology boot camp, who built strategic and rigorous curricula for industry-driven needs in hardware support and software development.
The Innovate Birmingham workforce program will prepare Birmingham-area young adults to obtain 925 high-paying IT jobs by 2021. Many of this class’s graduates have already received job offers with companies like Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, Brasfield & Gorrie, Regions and UAB. More than 30 employer partners have signed on to support Innovate Birmingham programs.
Area residents 17-29 years old interested in applying for the program may email promise@uab.edu for more information.