A portion of a $500-million grant approved by the U.S. Department of Commerce, has announced that $15-million will go towards helping residents in Middle and West Tennessee. 

The $15-million grant awarded in Tennessee will go towards Persevere and their Tennessee Technology Workforce Alliance (TTWA): An Information Technology Sectoral Partnership.

The funding approval was announced on Wednesday (08/03/2022) by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, who also confirmed grant awards to 31 additional industry-led workforce training partnerships across the country. The grants are under the $500 million Good Jobs Challenge funded by President Biden’s American Rescue Plan. The Good Jobs Challenge is administered by the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration and will enable communities across the country to invest in innovative approaches to workforce development that will secure job opportunities for more than 50,000 Americans.

The money earmarked for Tennessee will be for funding and the support of local technology firms. It will provide good job opportunities by scaling its model for training justice-impacted Americans through intensive skills training and work-based learning in Middle and West Tennessee.

The Tennessee Technology Workforce Alliance’s system is employer-driven, with employers including Banyan Labs, Epic Games, and ProTech committing to design curriculum, train instructors, provide on-the-job training opportunities and hire graduates.

Persevere has also secured partnerships with the Tennessee Department of Correction to start training individuals who are currently incarcerated and with community-based organizations such as Ladies of Hope Ministries which has a history working with Google to foster tech pathways for formerly incarcerated women.

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