Staff Fifty people with telecommunications skills are about to enter the Austin workforce. The inaugural class of Austin's Digital Workforce Academy is set to graduate May 4. The free program, which started in October, teaches skills to low-income and untrained adult workers.
Telecommunications is one of three areas of study offered by the nonprofit organization.
The program is an offshoot of after-school technology education offered through the Eastside Story program. The Digital Workforce Academy holds classes at East Austin's Arthur B. DeWitty Job Training Center. We want to train low-income people in high tech fields with children to empower them as parents to share with their kids that knowledge and skill set. We also wanted the parents to be involved with what their kids are doing. Avaya, a former unit of Lucent Technologies Inc., and St. Paul, Minn.-based 3M Co. provide educational material and hardware for the class.