Federal awards grow the state’s IT workforce through Registered Apprenticeship
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky – Louisville-based Dataseam announced today grants from both the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to provide over $2 million in advanced instructional computing to participating eastern Kentucky schools as part of the expansion of USDOL – sponsored Registered Apprenticeships in information technology for students in the 11th and 12th grade.
“We are excited about these opportunities for our Dataseam districts. They help move the needle for one of the most economically distressed parts of the United States,” stated Brian Gupton, Dataseam CEO. “This agreement with the Department of Labor makes the second federal contract we have earned and directly executed to carry out Registered Apprenticeship in partnership with our participating schools. These awards signify further validation of the Dataseam model for education and workforce development in Kentucky.”
Both the USDOL Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities ( WORC ) grant and the Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization ( POWER ) Initiative award from the ARC support Registered Apprenticeships in information technology for participating high school juniors and seniors. This two-year competency-based program provides coursework, on-job training, and mentorship as part of paid employment in the pursuit of a DOL Journeyworker certification like other skilled trades. Completers leave the program with the requisite skills and two years of practical experience to address vital IT sector demands in education, banking, healthcare, and state and local government. These opportunities reflect the availability of meaningful, family-sustaining employment without the associated costs of a 2 or 4-year degree.
Participating schools receive Apple iMac workstations to address advanced curriculum needs. Apprentice candidates receive MacBook Pro laptops to engage in coursework and to support the enterprise-level demands of the K-12 technology environment. Upon completion of the Registered Apprenticeship program, these laptops follow the Journeyworker completers into the workforce or further information technology training at the University level.
“While a great deal of overall K-12 basic student technology access has shifted to mobility met with lower-end machines, it is a function of cost and not necessarily form,” said Superintendent Tim Melton, Williamsburg Independent Schools. “Kentucky schools still need instructional devices with the ability to do academic heavy lifting like pre-engineering and the media arts. These devices provide the environments to engage in state-mandated standardized testing in a controlled and uniform fashion. Our participation in the variety of workforce initiatives Dataseam provides allows us to upskill our eastern Kentucky workforce and bring related technology we need with local investments at a fraction of the cost.”
Williamsburg CIO Parker Smith adds, “School technology professionals across eastern Kentucky serve as apprentice mentors. In addition to the employment districts provide, student apprentices participate in industry-standard certification that has allowed many of us, including myself, to advance in our careers. The investments districts make in the Registered Apprenticeship as employer-partners are far less than the state-mandated match required of us to receive technology funding. Leveraging opportunities allows schools like ours to receive far more technology while training the IT workforce of the future for Appalachia.”
The computers funded by the DOL and the ARC bring advanced curriculum opportunities for schools but also comprise an important part of a statewide computing grid built and maintained by Dataseam. The DataseamGrid, unique to Kentucky, services the structure-based drug design demands of the University of Louisville Brown Cancer Center, providing as much as 80% of the overall computing capacity to create safer and more effective cancer therapeutics at a fraction of the time and cost. Initially funded by the Kentucky General Assembly in 2005, it is vital to saving lives and creating economic opportunities for the Commonwealth. With the DataseamGrid, Kentucky is more competitive for federal funding with over $65 million earned to date creating a $162.5 million economic impact for Kentucky.
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About Dataseam
Dataseam provides research computing infrastructure, education, and workforce development opportunities to 48 participating Kentucky public K-12 school districts.
About Appalachian Regional Commission
The Appalachian Regional Commission serves 13 states comprising 420 counties and 25 million U.S. citizens. Since 1965, $4.5 billion in targeted investments matched by $10 billion in federal, state, and local funding sources have been made in the region. More information at www.arc.gov.
About USDOL
The United States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration’s mission is to contribute to the more efficient functioning of the U.S. labor market by providing high-quality job training, employment, labor market information, and income maintenance services primarily through state and local workforce development systems. More information at
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/dislocated-workers/grants/workforce-opportunity
