In Dallas, Ivanka Trump, Google's CEO Sundar Pichai Announce Expansion Of High-Tech Training Program
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Ivanka Trump and Google's CEO announced in Dallas Thursday, the expansion of a high-tech training program that helps workers change careers and students prepare for their first job.
At El Centro College, Trump, daughter and Advisor to President Donald Trump, watched as Google's CEO Sundar Pichai signed a White House pledge to provide 250,000 training and education opportunities during the next five years.
Pichai said, "Our goal is to make sure the opportunities created by technology are truly available for everyone."
Trump said, "Through this pledge initiative, we've gotten over 350 companies to sign our pledge creating 14 million job training opportunities."
Other companies that have signed the pledge include AT&T, American Airlines and Toyota, all based in North Texas.
Trump is Co-Chair of the National Council For The American Worker President Trump established in July, 2018 to retrain workers of all ages.
The company also announced its expanding its Google IT Support Professional Certificate program from 30 community colleges nationwide to 100 by the end of next year.
Google launched the program in January, 2018, and El Centro began offering it last fall.
Ivanka Trump called it, "The perfect example of career focused education done right."
Google's IT Support Professional Certificate allows workers and students of all ages to become ready for a tech support job in six months without prior training or having to earn a college degree.
A company spokesman said Google decided to hold the event in Dallas to strengthen ties to the city and Texas.
The firm employs more than 1,000 people in the state, including about 100 in the Dallas area.
Google recently opened one of its largest data centers in Midlothian.
Trump told the gathering, "In Texas alone over 750,000 new jobs were created since the election. Historically low unemployment rates across every demographic is creating opportunities for workers."
Pichai said, "Google is certainly not the only company who needs to hire tech people. Demand for tech skills is increasing across industries and IT support is one of the fastest growing professions in the country."
A booming economy has created a demand for these jobs that pay on average $53,000 a year.
There are now 215,000 IT support jobs available nationwide.
Dallas County Community College District Chancellor Dr. Joe May said workforce development is a top priority.
"We know that last year there were 11,000 IT support jobs opened up in Dallas County and North Texas. Many of those jobs went unfilled simply because there weren't enough people to take the jobs."U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, said North Texas needs tech workers. "We are a magnet in this country for getting business to look our way. We've got now to be that magnet for producing the talent to keep them going."
Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, R-Texas, said, "Google's IT support certificate will help meet the high demand for IT support specialists in the Dallas region, which currently has a higher-than-average job posting rate and projected growth of 14% by 2028."
Natalie Burns is among the students who participated in a roundtable discussion with Trump and Pichai. "I'm super thrilled and proud to be a part of this."
After working in retail and at her family's martial arts business as an instructor, Burns, 25, began El Centro College's "Year Up" program in January.
She said she earned her Google certificate this week. "I decided to do this partly because I wanted to prove to myself that I could make it into the IT industry and I wanted to prove my friends and family I could do it because you don't see people that look like me thriving in an industry like this I wanted to be that person."
Burns said she is confident she will get a job in her new field once she completes her studies.
