P.R. accepted into White House ‘TechHire’ program
This TechHire designation shows that Puerto Rico has the partners, employers, training providers, and the civil leadership support needed to implement and scale tech job opportunities for everyone.
Puerto Rico has been announced as one of 19 TechHire communities dedicated to creating pathways for more U.S. citizens to access well-paying tech jobs and expanding local tech sectors in communities across the country, the White House announced Thursday.
Puerto Rico will be joining a national network of 70 TechHire communities in receiving support to spearhead efforts to help overlooked and underrepresented Americans start technology careers.
“The TechHire initiative will enable us to become better at bridging the tech talent gap on the island, identifying the needs of employers and continuing to train in the highest in-demand skills and programming languages,” said Sofia Stolberg, CEO of Piloto 151 and Codetrotters, adding the designation demonstrates the progress Puerto Rico has made in the past several years building a stronger tech talent pool and ecosystem.
“We’re very proud of this historic designation which is the culmination of a broad based alliance uniting local public and private sector players who are committed to ensuring that Puerto Rico becomes a world-recognized tech hub in the near future,” she said.
Puerto Rico’s designation as a TechHire Community was only made possible thanks to a joint multi-sector effort to support new career development initiatives with a focus on creating 100 new full time positions in 2017.
Leading the way from the government sector was the Department of Economic Development, fully supporting Piloto 151 and Codetrotters Academy in the coordination of efforts along with over a dozen organizations and employers, including the Puerto Rico IT Cluster, the Science and Technology Research Trust, Grupo Guayacán, the San Juan Tech Meetup, Parallel18, HackPR, Rocksolid Technologies, Wovenware, and Migo IQ, among many others.
All TechHire communities go through an intensive and competitive application process to demonstrate their level of commitment and readiness in expanding the technology sector. This TechHire designation shows that Puerto Rico has the partners, employers, training providers, and the civil leadership support needed to implement and scale tech job opportunities for everyone.
“We’re very pleased to welcome Puerto Rico to the TechHire Initiative,” said Tess Posner, Managing Director of TechHire at Opportunity@Work.
“Puerto Rico has demonstrated a true commitment to making opportunities in tech more inclusive in your community, and we at Opportunity@Work look forward to working with you to help implement, grow, and amplify your efforts,” Posner said.
The other 19 communities that will join the National TechHire Initiative in today’s announcement are:
- Alachua and Bradford Counties, FL
- Anchorage, AK
- Arizona
- Carroll County, MD
- Central Florida
- El Paso County, TX
- Bellevue, WA
- Boston, MA
- Howard County, MD
- Mobile, AL
- Oklahoma City, OK
- Omaha, NE
- Pensacola, FL
- Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico
- Stamford, CT
- Tampa Bay Metro Region, FL
- Toledo, OH
- Trenton City, NJ
- Tulsa, OK
