WhyITNow.org Announces Initiative to Support Information Technology Jobs and Services in California
Leading Information Technology (IT) organizations, businesses, industry and education professionals come together to collaborate on a new initiative that will help support California’s IT Job market pipeline. The goal of the WhyITNow.org initiative is to support California with an advanced information technology ecosystem that is able to refresh itself with IT talent, creative thinkers and entrepreneurs.
The initiative is responding to a crisis of record unemployment, a higher than average drop out rates and U.S. government studies predicting a significant shortage of technology professionals in the country within the next three to five years. The new initiative is designed to address the shortage of technology professionals and to answer the question, “Why Consider a Career in the IT Profession.”
“In order for California to continue to lead the world in innovation and creativity, we must develop an advanced information technology ecosystem that is able to refresh itself with IT talent and creative thinkers” said Bill Cullifer, WOW Executive Director and WhyITNow.org.
The WhyITNow.org initiative will drive skill development that will support and increase California’s job base. It also will:
•Develop an effective communication strategy to articulate that WhyITNow is good for California business, commerce, competitiveness and jobs
•Provide the legwork and the research of the employment data the state needs via analysis of existing and future data resources
•Deploy a strategy that works with California’s decentralized education structure
•Improve collaboration between K-12, community colleges, 4-year colleges an universities, business and government
•Aggregate an effective advocacy effort with state and national policy makers on behalf of the IT community in Sacramento and Washington D.C.
•Focus on promoting diversity and serving under-represented groups, difficult to reach populations and non-traditional learning organizations including women and minorities and the incumbent workforce
•Deploy relevant, workable, accessible instructional design strategies for learners (traditional and online methods) in partnership with California education including high schools, community collages, universities and ROP centers statewide.
•Work to build and promote IT literacy into general education curriculum in order to equip all graduates with these basic skills
•Support strategies to promote and support small business in California (where 90% of the jobs are)
