Accenture brings its national professional apprentice program to St.
Louis to help local residents create new career pathways
ST. LOUIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and the St.
Louis Promise Zone — a federal program that advances economic
activity and career mobility in high-poverty areas — have launched a new
program to help Promise Zone residents develop the skills they need to
pursue the rapidly growing number of information technology (IT) jobs in
the St. Louis area.
The new program — called “My Path, My Future” — will help individuals
who work in at-risk jobs, or are unemployed and have few resources to
build new skills to transition to new careers. According to recent
research by the Brookings Institute, 45 percent of the tasks that people
in St. Louis perform in their jobs have the potential of being
automated, putting some jobs at risk.
Accenture will also bring its national apprenticeship program to St.
Louis, offering individuals IT training and a pathway to employment with
the company.
“Professional apprenticeships can play an important role in creating
opportunities for individuals who might not otherwise have access to
digital economy jobs, while helping to close the skills gap for
employers,” said Julie Sweet, Accenture’s CEO – North America. “People
are this city’s greatest source of competitive advantage, and together
with the St. Louis Promise Zone and our skilling partners, we are
helping make St. Louis, its people and its economy stronger.”
Program partners — which include CyberUp, Family and Workforce Centers
of America, LaunchCode, NPower, St. Louis Agency on Training and
Employment (SLATE), St. Louis County Human Services, and the State of
Missouri — will provide participants with opportunities to develop
technical skills, complemented by work-based learning opportunities or
professional apprenticeships with local-area businesses. Lyft has also
signed on to provide transportation for individuals participating in the
program.
“This public-private partnership is designed to put families on a path
toward achieving economic success,” said Erica Henderson, executive
director and vice president of community investment and real estate at
the St. Louis Promise Zone. “The intentionality around equitable
workforce opportunities and expanding access to education, training and
employment in the Promise Zone footprint is critical to transforming our
region and having a substantive, generational and economic impact.”
The My Path, My Future program began recruiting its first cohort in
March, with the intent of placing individuals into training programs
during the summer and with prospective employers by the end of the year.
“The availability of technology roles in St. Louis will continue to
grow, and it’s important for employers to make these jobs more
accessible to wider pools of talent,” said Michael Gallagher, managing
director of Accenture’s St. Louis office. “We look forward to welcoming
our first cohort of apprentices to Accenture and seeing the impact they
make on our business.”
St. Louis joins Accenture’s growing national apprentice program, which
is currently offered in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, San
Antonio, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. The national
program will have 450 apprentices trained by the end of 2019.
Accenture in the United States
Accenture is a leading professional services company, providing a broad
range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital,
technology and operations. Serving 95 of the Fortune 100 and
more than 70 percent of the Fortune 500, Accenture employs an
innovation-led approach to help clients imagine and invent their
future. Accenture is consistently recognized as a Fortune
Blue Ribbon Company and, with an unwavering commitment to inclusion
and diversity, appears regularly on Fortune’s
100 Best Companies to Work For and DiversityInc’s
Top 50 Companies for Diversity lists. The company has more than
50,000 people and operations in 42 cities in the United States. Visit us
at accenture.com/US.
About the St. Louis Promise Zone
The St. Louis Promise Zone program partners with local leaders to give
communities proven tools to rebuild and put people back to work. The federal
program launched in 2013, designates high-poverty urban, rural and
tribal communities as Promise Zones in order to increase economic
activity, improve educational outcomes, reduce serious and violent
crime, invest in transformative development and improve health and
wellness. The Promise Zone, designated
in 2015, encompasses portions of the City of St. Louis and St. Louis
County.
Contacts
Tina Janczura
Accenture
+1 312 693 0188
[email protected]
