First Feet on the Ground

Meet Andrea Applegate, the most recent addition to the Per Scholas team and the head of our new site about to open in Columbus, OH. Andrea will lead the implementation of our IT training programs in Columbus — the first in a series of planned new Per Scholas locations. We are very excited to welcome her.

Andrea, an expert on workforce development in the region, is well-known in the local business community. She focused for twelve years on workforce issues at the Columbus Chamber of Commerce and more recently with Columbus2020, the regional economic development organization. This experience has given Andrea an invaluable perspective on local labor market needs and challenges, and helped her cultivate long-standing relationships with key partners in the workforce development arena. Andrea’s priority for Per Scholas | Columbus will be to ensure the highest quality training for students along with every other effort to help them succeed in rewarding and challenging new IT careers — one of the fastest-growing categories of new skilled jobs.

While hiring staff and opening a new office and classrooms, Andrea will reach out to local business leaders about the benefits of partnering with the new program, and especially of hiring Per Scholas graduates. She will also engage the philanthropic community to develop awareness about the proven impacts of the Per Scholas training program and its potential to support important local economic development goals while reducing joblessness throughout the region.

In its first year, Per Scholas | Columbus will provide 100% free IT training to 80 unemployed individuals. The first class is being recruited now, and will launch in October. There will be also be a formal opening ceremony and wider launch announcement before the end of year. We look forward to sharing much more information in the weeks and months ahead.

The opening of Per Scholas | Columbus is made possible by the generous and committed contributions of key partners JPMorgan Chase and CompTIA, as well as the City of Columbus. We thank them for their support.

For more information or to get involved contact [email protected].

UPDATE: The Huffington Post already got wind of the news and wrote the piece Per Scholas, Bronx Job-Training Non-Profit With Record of Success, Expands to Ohio on August 16, 2012.

Per Scholas Columbus now has a webpage. For information on the Columbus location, including how to apply, click here.

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