Maine will receive a $4 million grant from the federal government to expand education opportunities to people who want to pursue the myriad job opportunities with an information-technology focus.
The grant is part of the TechHire program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Labor. President Barack Obama created the TechHire program in March 2015 to encourage employers to recruit and hire individuals based on technology skills regardless of where or how they obtained them.
The White House designated Maine a TechHire community last August.
Receiving the grant are Educate Maine, which administers the Project>Login initiative, and Coastal Counties Workforce Inc., which were partners in the grant application and collectively are known as TechHire Maine.
Ed Cervone, Educate Maine’s executive director, and Mike Bourret, executive director of CCWI, a nonprofit that administers workforce development initiatives in York, Cumberland, Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Waldo and Knox counties, were understandably excited by the news.
Cervone said the grant would allow the organizations to help 500 young adults over the next four years find promising careers in computing and IT occupations at Maine companies. Those services will include career coaching, paid internships, on-the-job training, and short-term, intensive IT boot camps.
“This is the opportunity many of us have been looking for to help Maine people find good jobs,” Cervone said.
Bourret added: “This will help young people and other workers throughout Maine increase their skills in technology. It’s also a great opportunity for a number of Maine employers to increase their competitiveness.”
When Maine’s TechHire designation was announced last August, another benefit discussed was the possibility to connect Educate Maine and Maine businesses with a national network of resources, including potential partnerships with major corporations. LinkedIn, for example, has recently reached out to the TechHire Maine partners to see how it could potentially help Project>Login improve its online job board and connect people with potential employers, according to a source familiar with the matter.
TechHire Maine was one of 39 partnerships across the country that received a total of more than $150 million in funding through the TechHire program.
Three of Maine’s four-member congressional delegation announced the award.
“Maine’s economy has undergone a transformation over the past several decades, with IT-related jobs becoming an increasingly important component of economic growth,” Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King said in a joint statement. “TechHire Maine’s focused career training program will create new opportunities for hundreds of students in our state by helping them gain IT skills that are highly sought-after by today’s employers.”
“This grant is great news for getting Maine people back to work in good-paying jobs that have bright potential for the future,” U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree said in a statement. “The information technology industry is one of our state’s most promising options for filling the gap left by the loss of papermaking and manufacturing jobs across the state. … I think it not only will benefit individuals by helping them access these jobs, but will also be a major asset in attracting new businesses that need this kind of skilled workforce.”
