Detroit’s Focus: HOPE and General Motors Co. have collaborated to create the Women in Manufacturing and Technology program, a new manufacturing and information technology job preparedness and training initiative for women in metro Detroit. The automotive company partnered with the human and civil rights group through a $370,000 grant and $338,000 in laptops and network infrastructure donations.
Through the program, Focus: HOPE will help women forge a path in an industry where they have been historically excluded, says Jackie Parker, global corporate giving director for General Motors.
“Focus: HOPE has a strong history of providing job training services to residents in and around Detroit,” says Parker. “Women are underrepresented in the manufacturing and IT workforce and there is a need for more highly trained female professionals, which the Women in Manufacturing and Technology program has been designed to provide.”
Focus: HOPE works to lower Detroit’s poverty rates by raising opportunities for local women through education and training programs.
“The key to a successful career is opportunities, something that GM has given our graduates and individuals we serve for decades,” says Jason D. Lee, CEO of Focus: HOPE. “We are looking forward to continuing our partnership with GM.”
In 1993, the group launched the Center for Advanced Technologies (CAT) program designed to give MTI graduates the opportunity for a tuition-free college degree in manufacturing engineering.
