United Way starts $2.5 million job training effort for low-income Miami-Dade residents
In an effort to assist low-income, underserved Miami-Dade County residents with job training and career development in healthcare, transportation and other industries, United Way Miami on Thursday announced the formation of UpSkill Miami.
UpSkill Miami is a $2.5 million fund for workforce retraining that was made possible by philanthropist MacKenzie Scott’s $6.5 billion donation in December 2020 to six South Florida nonprofits, including United Way’s Miami chapter. It’s a collaborative effort between United Way, Miami Dade College, Baptist Health, Jackson Health System, United HomeCare and others.
“This transformational fund is making an investment, $2.5 million dollars to directly help this population and go to training opportunities to lead people directly to jobs,” United Way Miami CEO Symeria T. Hudson said. “There are hard-working people living paycheck to paycheck. Nearly 50% of households in Miami-Dade County are in that population.”
The first part of UpSkill Miami will focus on healthcare, a sector needing more hires. Hudson worked in healthcare for 15 years before moving to philanthropy and saw firsthand the large numbers of unfilled positions. That number has only increased in the post-pandemic environment, she said.
Miami Dade College President Madeline Pumariega also affirmed the need to prepare locals to work in hospitals and other health settings in Miami. She noted the strong demand for her school’s certified nurse assistant training program.
“We had a small grant that we could train CNAs with and we didn’t know if we could get 100 signatures,” she said. “More than 1,800 residents in Miami-Dade County signed up for the information session.”
In the second stage of UpSkill Miami, commercial truck driving training firm, The CDL School with its three locations in Florida, will work with the United Way and the local partners to provide truck driving training that leads to certifications and good-paying driver positions.
“Entering the transportation industry is a life-changing opportunity,” said Charles Hodge, CDL School president of education and training. “People can go from making $30,000 a year to starting as a driver at $65,000.”
The American Trucking Association estimated the truck-driver shortage will reach 1 million drivers by 2030.
UpSkill Miami’s focus will be training: Black and brown people; female heads of household; veterans; youth 18 to 24; and those aging out of foster care. There is also a target of educating people earning $35,000 or below and those unemployed. Training regimens will be between 14 and 16 weeks with the goal of reaching 500 Miami-Dade residents in the next nine to 12 months.
Area residents can apply for the program’s healthcare or transportation training opportunities via the United Way Miami website: https://unitedwaymiami.org/upskillmiami/.
