- America’s Workforce Academy is a $115 million Meta training scheme. in support of construction roles
- Meta knows that the United States needs hundreds of thousands of skilled tradespeople
- Previous Level-Up fiber training scheme received 35,000 applicants in one week
Every time a hyperscaler announces a new data center project, there’s usually a follow-up announcement around AI upskilling and community funding, but this time Meta citizen support is taking it a step further.
Under the company’s new America’s Workforce Academy (AWA), it will support training for careers that support the broader data center boom across jobs such as construction and infrastructure.
Meta will use the AWA to provide $115 million in funding by 2026, making it one of the largest private investments in trade skills in the United States.
Amidst the ongoing AI boom, hyperscalers are quickly realizing that providing workers with AI skills alone is not enough, but that they face limitations on how quickly they can expand their infrastructure.
Meta argued that America’s AI ambitions will require hundreds of thousands of additional tradespeople, including fiber technicians, welders, plumbers, electricians and more, and with such a healthy investment, it’s proof that AI is evolving jobs rather than replacing them entirely.
“America’s Workforce Academy is our commitment to building the workforce with the same ambition and long-term thinking that we bring to technology itself,” explained Data Center VP Rachel Peterson.
Under the scheme, workers are given access to free five-week courses with guaranteed employment opportunities on Meta’s data center projects. Baton Rouge, Houston, Indianapolis and Columbus will be the first regions to benefit from the scheme.
But the benefits aren’t just tied to Meta — with workers able to earn National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) accreditation and an America’s Workforce Certificate, the company says the skills gained will be able to “travel with the worker across employers and industry sectors.”
This follows the success of Meta’s Level-Up fiber installation programme, which received 35,000 applications in its first week.
“Skilled workers electrified rural America one pole at a time,” explained Meta President and Vice Chairman Dina Powell McCormick. “Now a new generation will lay the foundation and lay the fiber that will ensure American strength in this new age.”
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