KC Tech Council’s apprenticeship program launches with job growth hopes from Davids, Cleaver
January 27, 2021 | Startland News Staff
A freshly launched partnership between KC Tech Council and Apprenti — designed to cultivate tech skills and offer first-hand experience for apprentices — is a solid fit for Kansas City’s talent needs, two members of the metro’s U.S. congressional delegation agreed.
“I truly believe that entrepreneurship is baked into the DNA of our region,” U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kansas, told an online audience Tuesday. “I’m so glad that we have organizations like Apprenti recognizing that investing in the entrepreneurial spirit we have here is so important … I’m optimistic that this is going to be a big benefit not just for Kansans but for the employers in the third congressional district in the metro area.”
Davids, who represents Kansas’ third district, sits on the House Small Business Committee and previously founded an entrepreneur-focused podcast, “Starty Pants.”
Click here to read more about how the KC Tech Council hopes its partnership with Apprenti will help fill 4,000 vacant tech positions.
Erin Christensen, KC Tech Council, Apprenti
“We all know that two of the biggest challenges facing the tech industry are a lack of talent, but also a lack of diversity. … With over 70 percent of our apprentices being women, veterans and/or people of color, Apprenti has a proven model for diversifying tech talent across the country,” said Erin Christensen, KC Tech Council’s program manager for Apprenti, on Tuesday during the organization’s online “Tapping into Talent” event.
Joining Davids with a pre-recorded video, U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Missouri, said the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic recession it caused mean Kansas City needs a strong tech workforce and innovative training programs more than ever.
“As the representative for Missouri’s fifth congressional district and as a member of the House Financial Services Committee, I’m always on the lookout for new and promising developments that demonstrate economic progress for my district,” Cleaver said. “Apprenti certainly seems to fit that bill.”
Bringing the program to Kansas City feels like a “homecoming,” said Jennifer Carlson, co-founder of Apprenti and an Overland Park native.
Click here to watch the full online event.
By Tuesday, Apprenti had already gathered 160 applicants for Kansas City’s tech market, Christensen said. Employers are excited to engage the potential apprentices in areas ranging from cybersecurity to software development, according to event speakers from such organizations as BARR Advisory and CertTech.
“Some of [the applicants] are from Kansas and Missouri. But a good chunk of them — because we are just now doing our official launch — are from other markets [and] are interested in coming to Kansas City,” she noted. “Imagine the opportunity to not only cultivate local talent but also relocate talent to Kansas City.”
For more information on how a businesses can partner with Apprenti, or how individuals can sign up for an apprenticeship, email Christensen at: Erin@kctechcouncil.com
Featured Business
2021 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Techstars Spotlight: Planetarians’ hunger for tasty snacks blooms with Sunflower State secret ingredient
It’s a simple solution: Eat your fruits and vegetables. Treating diseases caused by poor diet costs the United States about $1.4 trillion each year, Aleh Manchuliantsau said. “Fiber and plant protein have been shown to prevent diabetes, heart disease and obesity,” said Manchuliantsau, co-founder and CEO of Planetarians. “But despite the effort to get kids…
Spanish-language business law class targets KC resource gap
¡Llamando a todos los emprendedores! Language isn’t a barrier to entrepreneurial spirit, Adrienne Haynes said, and it shouldn’t prevent Kansas Citians from finding business success just because they don’t understand the nuances of startup lingo or legal processes. “Whether you’re a black- or brown-owned company, whether you’re woman-owned, whether Spanish is your primary language, or…
Tech startup TVWIZZ puts channel choice in consumers’ hands
You’ve heard it before: Millennials are killing the cable TV industry. With millions of young people “cord cutting” in lieu of streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, traditional cable viewership has dropped by more than 40 percent, according to Nielson. For many, it comes down to price, said Michael Hockey, founder of TVWIZZ, a free,…
KCultivator Q&A: Diana Kander on Pitbull, honey badgers, stand-up material
Editor’s note: KCultivators is a lighthearted profile series to highlight people who are meaningfully enriching Kansas City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Check out our features on Victor & Penny’s Erin McGrane, SEED Law’s Adrienne Haynes, Code Koalas’ Robert Manigold, Prep-KC CEO Susan Wally and community builder Donald Carter. Early in her career as an innovation coach, Diana…