Raimondo, Paiva Weed, Grebien Welcome LaunchCode to Help Rhode Islanders Build Skills & Compete for Open IT Positions
During the event, the Governor, Senate President, and Mayor received a coding lesson from two apprentices at Kenzan:
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -??Governor Gina M. Raimondo today welcomed LaunchCode, a tech talent placement nonprofit and Real Jobs RI job-training partner, to Rhode Island.
She discussed how the state is helping employers meet their IT skills shortages and helping workers build the skills they need to compete for these open positions.
If you missed the event, you can check out a link to the live feed on Facebook.
The Governor was joined by Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, Pawtucket Mayor Donald R. Grebien, Department of Labor and Training Director Scott R. Jensen, Dean Lori Ciccomascolo of the University of Rhode Island’s College of Continuing Education, officials from LaunchCode and TechHire Rhode Island – the state’s tech talent pipeline – and Kenzan, a cutting-edge software engineering and professional services firm in Pawtucket.
“Our economy is shifting rapidly and is increasingly driven by technology,” Raimondo said. “Our priority is helping Rhode Islanders build the skills they need to get good paying jobs.
As part of this effort, we are participating in??President Obama’s??TechHire initiative and working with LaunchCode to prepare people to compete for open positions in the IT sector in our state.” “LaunchCode’s launch in Rhode Island adds to the momentum that our economy is experiencing, in part because of the partnership between Governor Raimondo and the General Assembly on enacting policies and legislation that are focused on putting Rhode Islanders back to work,”
Senate President Paiva Weed said. “The more we can do to build skills that are in demand by employers in sector after sector, the stronger our workforce, companies, economy and quality of life will become.”
LaunchCode will help Rhode Island build a tech talent pipeline and a 21st-century workforce that will connect nontraditional job-seekers to high-paying tech jobs.
Raimondo awarded??LaunchCode, a nonprofit organization that places qualified candidates into apprenticeships and jobs in tech, a $350,000 implementation grant through her??Real Jobs RI job-training plan??in November. Rhode Island is LaunchCode’s fourth national hiring hub.