Page 60 - Careers & Stuff 2021

Forward Delaware MASSIVE RETRAINING EFFORT GRADUATED THOUSANDS,
MAY HOLD LESSONS FOR FUTURE
Faced with staggering workforce disruptions as a result of the COVID pandemic, the State of
Delaware mounted a massive retraining effort in late 2020 that is now bearing fruit.
The program, Forward Delaware, was launched to offer free training
for thousands of Delaware workers displaced by the pandemic. It is fueled with $10 million from the federal CARES Act funds, one piece of the millions allocated to the state to offset the financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We know that our ability to rebound and get Delaware working again will partly rely on our ability to provide training for individuals that need it
and meet those jobs in high demand,” Gov. John Carney said when he first announced the program last fall.
As of June, just under 12,000 trainees — maybe more, as the data is slow
BY KATIE TABELING
to update — have graduated or are wrapping up their Forward Delaware programs right now. These programs were provided by organizations such as Code Differently, Tech Impact, Zip Code Wilmington, the Delaware Restaurant Association, Delaware Technical Community College, New Castle County Vocational Technical School District, POLYTECH Adult Education Division and the American Driver Training Academy.
The training providers involved in Forward Delaware had many success stories under their belt even before Forward Delaware launched. One of those is Mubarak Onaneye, 21, who did not have a career in mind before he started training, but did have an interest in technology and computers. While working at 5 Below in Christiana, he decided to explore opportunities out there in the tech sector.
“A job wasn’t something I thought of
when I was growing up. At one point,
I wanted to be a dental hygienist, but once I realized the training needed for that, that was off,” says Onaneye. “But my sister knew I was into tech stuff, so she recommended Tech Impact.”
He was in one of the last in-person classes that Tech Impact, a nonprofit focused on IT support training and certification programs, held before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. All of
his classes went remote, and while Onaneye finds online learning hard, he graduated from the IT Works program. He now works at Tech Impact’s Community Help Desk to provide IT support to students, teachers and parents in the Indian River and Capital School Districts. The Tech Impact Community Help Desk, which is funded through Forward Delaware, has extended its contract with the school districts until the end of August.
Forward Delaware also supported
58 CAREERS & STUFF | DelawareBusinessTimes.com
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