Event kicks off $4M tech training program

Initiative focuses on rectifying skills gaps

Representatives from New Mexico Workforce Connection and several of its partners Wednesday morning kicked off a $4 million initiative that will train people for information technology jobs and develop their skills.

The TechHire New Mexico program, announced in July, is open to young adults in central New Mexico between the ages of 17 and 29 with a high school or equivalency diploma who have barriers to job training, employment or education. The program aims to provide job placement, customized accelerated training, apprenticeships and work experience for more than 400 qualified individuals through 2020.

About 100 people joined Mayor Richard Berry at Rural Sourcing Inc. in Downtown Albuquerque to officially launch TechHire. Berry said the training, to be offered to residents of Bernalillo, Sandoval, Valencia and Torrance counties, is a good way to address the skills gap and prepare candidates for the types of jobs that will be expanding.

“We must invest in workforce development to have economic growth,” said Berry. “Without a trained workforce in place, it will be hard to attract new companies like Facebook” to the region, he said.

Each training site will use its share of the federal grant to assist future IT workers, and seek employer partners willing to help participants gain work experience and then hire them.

The program will make veterans and their spouses placement priorities.

TechHire training sites include Central New Mexico Community College, CNM Ingenuity Inc., Innovate+Educate/ Talent ABQ and the New Mexico Technology Council.

There may be other educational partners, such as coding camps and distance learning providers, said Tawnya Roland, TechHire program director.

Roland said eligible students may receive help in the form of mentoring, as well as financial assistance to pay for course fees, certification fees and other support costs.

Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, TechHire New Mexico was one of only 39 programs chosen from 215 grant proposals submitted.