Vermont gets $1.6 million for IT training initiative

Vermont will use $1.6 million in federal funds to train workers for information technology careers.

“Our efforts will concentrate on increasing Vermont’s capacity to train IT workers and increasing the number of skilled IT employees in Vermont by establishing a statewide training infrastructure including apprenticeships, Web-based technology, statewide outreach and strong public-private partnerships,” Gov. Jim Douglas said in a statement.

The initiative, which includes state government, employers, educational institutions and non-profit groups, is expected to align IT occupations that are in demand with post-secondary education, which could lead to technology certifications and/or degrees, establish a pipeline to IT jobs through mentored internships and apprenticeships and provide post-secondary training for dislocated or unemployed workers.

The initiative is part of the Bush administration’s High Growth Job Training Initiative, which helps target worker training and career development in 12 growing sectors, such as IT, geospatial technology, aerospace, biotechnology, health care and transportation, among others.

The Labor Department, which made the award to the state, has been conducting forums with leaders of growing industries to find out critical workforce gaps and issues and then developing initiatives, such as Vermont’s, to address the problems.