San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee on Tuesday launched a citywide workforce training initiative to place 2,500 residents, from diverse backgrounds, in technology-related jobs over the next five years.
The initiative, called “TechSF,” is being funded by $8 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Labor to provide training, education and career assistance to both prospective employees and private sector employers, according to an announcement from the mayor’s office. TechSF is a partnership between the City of San Francisco, vocational and community colleges and various workforce training nonprofits and private sector technology companies.
"Innovating technology companies are leading our City’s economic recovery and creating thousands of new jobs, but we must ensure that San Francisco residents from every background are getting the training and skills they need to compete and win in the 21st century economy," said Mayor Lee in a statement. "TechSF is at the core of our economic strategy to build public-private partnerships that bridge students, veterans and people in the middle of their careers to high tech training and private sector job opportunities."
Currently, the first class of 80 TechSF Academy students are taking courses in mobile app development, networking, multimedia design and tech support.
