Telework program is ‘game changer' for women in rural parts of Utah

An Irish-based company, ALISON, provides free, high-quality e-courses to people around the globe in order to help close the gap between education and workplace skills. Particularly focused on providing access to areas where more traditional forms of education and job training are difficult to get, this approach is helping to change lives and the economy for the better.

South Dakota technical colleges partner closely with the renewable energy industry through specialized academic programs, responsive curriculum changes, and targeted scholarships, effectively addressing workforce shortages, achieving high-paying job placements, and catalyzing local economic growth.

Transfr is a tech company that provides free virtual reality job training and education to help facilitate employment opportunities. Transfr specifically focuses on providing these opportunities for disadvantaged people in places like domestic violence shelters, mental health clinics, juvenile detention centers and state correctional institutions where access to skill-building and further education is often hard to access. So far Transfr has 30 partnerships across 18 states.

“Grow your own” programs, like Reach University’s, are working to address teacher shortages, particularly in rural areas, by recruiting school employees who don’t have college or education degrees and giving them a chance to earn an undergraduate degree in education at just $75 a month. Participants take courses online and take 15 hours out of their work week to spend time observing and training in classrooms. So far 84% of all parishes across the state have signed up to take Reach trainees, which could put a significant dent in the statewide teacher vacancy issue.

AnnieCannons, is a nonprofit that teaches sex traffic survivors computer software skills so they can be employed as developers. It also emphasizes networking and tries to secure job placement. “I’ve never been happier ... having a steady paycheck for the first time since I was like 16 and just like actual real financial security where I know I’m going to get paid every two weeks, and I can start to like just settle into my life, finally.”

As demand for career and technical education grows among high schoolers looking for alternatives to costly college degrees, companies like Stride Inc. have expanded online career training programs across the country, offering virtual career academies, hands-on practice kits, job shadowing, and live instruction in career tracks ranging from business to agriculture.

Mendocino County is responding to local socioeconomic challenges by expanding coordinated education and workforce development programs in sustainable construction and clean energy, preparing residents for anticipated geothermal energy jobs.

Local organizations such as Mujeres Rurales Argentinas and the provincial Ministry of Agriculture's Gender Cabinet are empowering rural women through artisanal tea production. By offering training programs structured around women's caregiving schedules, creating spaces for gender-inclusive collaboration, and advocating for policy changes, these groups have helped increase women's leadership roles in tea production, as more than half of artisan producers are now women.

Since 2015, the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship, with support by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), has worked to help dairy farmers transfer skills and opportunities to a new generation. Thus far, slmost 70 apprentices have graduated from the program as independent journeyworkers, and 59 farmer-apprentice pairs are currently active across the country.

To combat unemployment, the Girls2Women Initiative runs 6- to 12-week training programs for girls and women in underserved communities in Nigeria. During this time they learn skills they can use to find a job or start their own business in industries like graphic design, decor, and tailoring.