CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Charlotte area's unemployment rate is inching closer to pre-pandemic levels. City officials hope to continue to improve jobs and the workforce by funding technical training programs.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 50,000 people in Charlotte, Gastonia and Rock Hill were unemployed in August 2022, compared to a year prior, when 62,750 people were unemployed.
In hopes of speeding up the momentum, the City of Charlotte is bolstering workforce training programs with grants.
The money will go toward local programs that offer technical, hard skills training, and help people recover from the pandemic.
One of the recipients, E2D: Eliminate the Digital Divide, said they're using the money to hire 50 employees and train them in information technology.
E2D's mission is to refurbish old laptops and give them to people in need.
"The computers families are getting for $80 are worth upwards of $1,000,” president Pat Millen explained.
Millen said they’ve given out 32,000 computers since 2013. The organization hires high school and college students and trains them to fix donated laptops they receive from businesses.
It's a great opportunity for students wanting IT experience, like 20-year-old Anthony Calloway. He told WCNC Charlotte he started volunteering at E2D as a freshman in high school.
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"When I started here, I didn’t know much about computers other than what every teenager knows," Calloway shared.
But now five years later, Calloway is a supervisor of the computer lab and going to UNC Charlotte to study information technology (IT).
"There’s such a lack of people to fill positions that are needed to provide IT workforce for just the Charlotte community now,” Millen said.
That’s why the city granted E2D $220,000 – to double their workforce and teach students a valuable skill.
WCNC Charlotte is always asking "where's the money?" If you need help, reach out to WCNC Charlotte by emailing money@wcnc.com.
It’s one of six nonprofits that received a chunk of the $1.4 million the city offered through American Rescue Plan funds. Awardees are required to put the money toward workforce development.
"From helping justice-involved individuals secure in-demand healthcare jobs, to providing wrap-around services to eliminate economic barriers for learners, we’re excited to support a variety of nonprofits,” Christina Thigpen, deputy director of economic development for the city, said.
The organizations will receive their grants this fall and will have two years to spend the money.
Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.