Facebook says they are heading to Detroit to help train thousands of people.
The social media giant's COO Sheryl Sandberg made the the announcement on her Facebook page overnight, citing a growing need for skilled tech employees.
”Technology is so powerful, it's powering our vehicles, it's powering our lives, but it also is creating employment challenges around the world and we know we have a responsibility to help people get those jobs," said Sandberg in a special Facebook Live session with fellow female executive General Motors CEO Mary Barra.
Michigan has a growing tech industry, but not enough talent to fill local jobs.
Facebook is now teaming up with Grand Circus, a Detroit tech training school, located on Woodward Ave. near Grand Circus Park.
"It's really exciting for the reason that there are a lot of jobs, tech roles pay about fifty percent greater than the national average salary." Grand Circus CEO and Co-Founder Damien Rocchi says in just three years there will be one-million unfilled tech jobs across the country.
Facebook zeroed in on Detroit to find that new talent pool.
Together they will spend the next two years teaching courses in coding, social media and business marketing, with Facebook sponsoring a 10-week boot camp at Grand Circus for 25 people.
"The boot camp will include some Facebook related programming," said Rocchi.
Facebook will also fund small training classes that will happen across the state for what Rocchi called micro-credentials, "we're going to go out to Michigan more generally and train about 3,000 people in these skills."
The new partnership between Facebook and Grand Circus will help thousands find new careers in the tech industry.
Sandberg says they will also focus on bringing women into the tech field. That's why the program will partner with Detroit organization Sisters Code to get women into software development.
Rocchi says the start dates and other details are still pending, but they hope to have the bootcamp and micro-credential classes running sometime this fall, with more information coming out later this summer.
