“It’s been great seeing people come back and say, ‘I’ve been able to get a job,’ after we helped them with sprucing up their résumé and applying for jobs online.”  - PCC Staff Member, Las Vegas Urban League

“Without this computer lab, we would not be getting people the jobs that we’re getting them. It’s just a great thing.”  - Staff Member, Workforce West Virginia

Last week, President Obama signed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act aimed at creating a more flexible and responsive system of workforce development to meet the needs of employers looking to fill 21^st century jobs. Ensuring U.S. workers are able to compete and succeed is a key priority at the U.S. Commerce Department. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker served on a task force with Vice President Biden that recently released a report looking at solutions for making the nation’s workforce and training system more job-driven, integrated and effective.

By Laura Breedon, BTOP Program Director for Public Computing and Broadband Adoption

Last week, Dr. Jill Biden hosted the first ever White House Summit on Community Colleges, at which President Obama spoke.

The summit brought together community colleges, businesses, philanthropic organizations, federal and state policy leaders, and faculty and students to discuss how community colleges can help meet the job training and education needs of the American workforce.

Here at NTIA we are well aware of the critical role these anchor institutions play in their communities, and investing in broadband technologies for these institutions is a top priority. In fact, BTOP projects plan to directly connect approximately 600 community colleges across the country to broadband. These are among the 24,000 community anchor institutions that will be connected via BTOP projects.

The projects will provide high-speed connections that will enable students and faculty to use remote data sets, simulations, and other tools to learn and practice new skills as well as to collaborate with other classrooms in real-time. They will also improve education by bringing distance learning to schools in remote areas, enabling students to conduct online research, and helping teachers and parents to communicate with one another.

BTOP projects will also support public computer centers; jobs skills, computer, and workforce development training; and digital literacy initiatives on community college campuses throughout the United States. Some examples: