SAN ANTONIO — The first class of students have begun their training at a free new training center at Port San Antonio.
We first told you about Port San Antonio’s plan to transform a former Air Force fitness center into a training hub in August. In this update episode of Commerce Street, a business podcast from KENS 5, we heard from the organizations making the dream a reality and some of the students working toward a better future.
The San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology teamed up with Workforce Solutions Alamo, San Antonio business Dynamic Advancement, and other partners to develop programs in IT and computer support, human resources, and business operations management. Students can sign up through Workforce Solutions Alamo for the 30-day courses.
Bexar County and the City of San Antonio are paying for the courses with money from the CARES Act to help with COVID-19 economic recovery.
"It’s an extraordinary effort, we are going to start with 50 students I believe... and we will be able to get up to 400 students. That is a tremendous achievement and couldn’t have been done without all the partners at the table," Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said at ceremony to welcome the first class of students Friday.
"Thanks to the sweat equity, this former Air Force gymnasium is a big, clean, safe learning center which we are now conducting training. Right now, we can host up to 135 students continuously to conduct in person training," Port San Antonio CEO and President Jim Perschbach said about the new program, which is providing both in-person and virtual classes. "The same classes can be simultaneously broadcast to hundreds of students throughout our community."
Courses are now up and running and students from various different backgrounds are on their way to a new future. We spoke with a few of the students, some of whom were affected by COVID-19, about what drew them to the training.
"I’m a single mother of three. I was in the medical field, but with everything going on with COVID19, hours got cut so I was laid off. I decided to start doing Uber, so I was able to be with my kids and take them with me. And from there, I decided to come back to school and get certifications I need so I could work at home if I can," Amanda Agront said. "I did get two offers and I think I’m going with the second one. One of them is with Spectrum, so I’ll be working with them."
"I moved to Texas in 2018, originally from Saudi Arabia. I'm a military spouse as well. I was in global operations, this is my second week and I am very happy to be working with Dynamics," Yasmin Daoud said. "This is a great opportunity for me, aiming to familiarize myself with the general operations, the business management as I come with an HR background. And it might land me a job at the end of the course."
Registration is now open for the training courses and you can sign up by contacting Workforce Solutions Alamo.
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