Front Range Community College will use $250,000 from a $2 million grant to the Colorado Community College system to expand its apprenticeship offerings in high-demand information technology fields.
The grant to Colorado community colleges is from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Apprenticeship: Closing the Skills Gap grant program, according to a FRCC news release.
The college plans to work closely with local companies to design new apprenticeship programs to teach the skills that professionals in technology need, the new release states. FRCC’s aim is to help businesses develop their own talent pipeline by providing new workers with the right IT and cybersecurity training to hit the ground running.
“Almost every business and government agency employs technology professionals,” FRCC’s Dean of Academic Services Matt Jamison, said in the news release. “Apprenticeships are a great way for employers to fill those important positions with high-trained workers.”
Apprenticeships give students a chance to get paid while they learn — which puts them on a fast, clear path to well-paying tech careers, the news release states. “Apprentices get to work in real-life settings, getting hands-on training while also acquiring critical knowledge in the classroom,” Jamison said. “Students will come out of our programs with the right skills to immediately get to work in these high-demand fields.”
FRCC plan to target in-demand occupations with particular emphasis on the following IT positions:
Computer user support specialists- Computer programmers (coding)
- Computer network support specialists
- Cybersecurity specialists and technicians
- Web developers
- Database administrators
FRCC will develop the curricula for and create new apprenticeship programs for those target occupants as well as expanding the college's existing apprenticeship programs, the news release states.
