As a single mother raising her three children in Brainerd, Keirah Fletcher was eager to find a more rewarding and stable career than her previous jobs in retail and warehouse work.
At the suggestion of her cousin, she signed up for Chattanooga’s training program targeted at helping adults in low-income households gain skills and certification in the growing information technology field.
On Monday, Fletcher was one of eight graduates who walked across the stage at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center after completing the nine-week Economic Mobility Program for Advancement and Career Training class this summer.
The graduates Monday, along with 17 graduates of two previous classes, are Google IT certified to either pursue more college training in IT skills or immediately fill many of the IT call center and entry jobs that remain unfilled in Chattanooga.
“We’re giving folks a hand up, not a handout, and these individuals have shown by their 100% graduation rate that they are determined and they will be successful,” Carol Hunter, a financial literacy instructor who pushed for the program to start, said in an interview.