Providing digital job training and placement for veterans, military spouses in the midst of the pandemic
Fort Campbell, KY (July 13, 2021) – Last week, Digital Works (DW), a Connected Nation (CN) initiative, celebrated a huge accomplishment: officially training 101 graduates out of its Fort Campbell, Kentucky hub. The Digital Works program at Fort Campbell provides digital jobs training and placement assistance for military spouses and veterans. All of the jobs are remote, economic-base, and in-demand positions—providing new employment opportunities and a larger tax base for the local community.
The Fort Campbell location opened for its first class in February of 2020. After two in-person training classes, COVID-19 hit, forcing the program to continue classes virtually. This created many obstacles for staff and students, but the DW team persevered and put in many hours to adjust the class layout to make it work—even during a global pandemic.
101 Graduates
“Don’t tell us it can’t be done! When the pandemic hit, Digital Works, like many other organizations around the world, had to make adjustments to continue our mission,” said Jessica Golson, Facilitator, Digital Works. “This meant switching our in-person instruction to virtual live sessions (practically overnight), adapting our outreach to social media and virtual communications, and creating new, innovative techniques to reach additional vendors and potential candidates for our program. Basically, we changed nearly every element of our program to flex with a pandemic-influenced workforce environment.”
In the virtual offering, over the course of two weeks, participants have the opportunity to learn new online digital skills and are then provided with job placement assistance for online, remote positions. By combining the vastly successful curriculum, personalized virtual classroom facilitation, and established vendor network relations, Digital Works not only stayed afloat, but changed many lives.
“We may have altered our format, but we never deviated from our mission, serving those who need us no matter the environment,” said Golson. “Congratulations to our hardworking team and outstanding graduates for getting this far. We have more mountains to climb, but we are well equipped for the journey.”
“We are thrilled to celebrate the milestone of the 101st Digital Works graduate from our Ft. Campbell location”, said Tom Ferree, Chairman & CEO, Connected Nation. “Just as Ft. Campbell represents the development of the world’s elite air assault operation, we are proud to be developing today’s digitally remote workforce in the shadow of its storied gates. Arming our graduates with stable, flexible and perhaps most importantly, portable, employment options is very important to this community as well as anyone living in our country’s rural areas, where employment options are often limited. Supporting military spouses and veterans in this way is a great honor for our organization, and we are grateful to the Commonwealth of Kentucky and all our dedicated partners for their generous support in this mission.”
Congratulations to all of those who have graduated and have started working in their remote positions. To learn more about the graduates and the program, head over to www.digitalworksjobs.org
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Digital Works, a program of Connected Nation, connects people to leading-edge customer support and IT jobs for global corporations by providing training, mentorship, and job placement assistance, as well as the opportunity for advanced careers.
Connected Nation’s mission is to improve lives by providing innovative solutions that expand the access, adoption, and use of broadband (high-speed internet) and its related technologies to all people. We believe that everyone belongs in a Connected Nation. For more information, please visit: www.connectednation.org or follow Connected Nation on Facebook and Twitter.