NEWS
|
$2.995
MILLION GRANT TO TRAIN SILICON VALLEY WORKERS
FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY JOBS
Sunnyvale, CA (12/12/01) – The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded a
grant in the amount of $2,995,892 to the NOVA Workforce Board to provide
high-level training to employed and unemployed workers for jobs in occupations
where skill shortages exist. Even though the unemployment rate for Santa Clara
County has risen to 6.5%, there is still a continuing need to upgrade the
high-tech skills of the local workforce in order to meet the demand for trained
information technology workers. As the demand for high-tech workers has grown,
companies have increasingly been turning to foreign countries, importing highly
skilled workers under the H-1B visa program to fill the gap. The user fees paid
by employers seeking highly skilled foreign workers under the H-1B visa program
support this H-1B Technical Skill Training grant.
"The goal of this training grant is to prepare American workers for these
same high skill jobs, reducing the dependence on foreign labor," said NOVA
Director Mike Curran. "This grant helps us and our partners open up
opportunities for local residents to train or retrain in a high-tech career
that has a lot of career ladder potential."
The NOVA grant will be used to assist both employed and unemployed workers. The
project will provide entry level skills for those starting out in the
information technology field, build valuable systems administration skills for
those with more extensive experience, and also provide instruction in advanced
topics for those with established careers in order to move them further up the
career ladder.
The City of Sunnyvale administers NOVA's programs on behalf of a seven-city
consortium of Cupertino, Los Altos, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa
Clara, and Sunnyvale. NOVA's services are free to individuals who are in need
of reemployment services. For more information contact NOVA at (408) 730-7232 or
visit their website at www.novaworks.org.
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