Categories: Blog

Newmind Group partners with the Kalamazoo Technology Training Partnership

We’ve kept it under wraps for a while now, but we’re happy to finally share our part in a new IT training program called the Kalamazoo Technical Training Partnership (KTTP).

Last year, the Kalamazoo Promise brought together a handful of local organizations to form the KTTP, consisting of Consumers Credit Union, CTS Telecom, Greenleaf Hospitality Group, Kalamazoo Public Library, and Newmind Group. The intent of the partnership is to “bring together employers, community organizations, education, and workforce development to identify and provide relevant alternative educational and non-traditional training opportunities to city residents, with a focus on creating a more robust and diverse IT community.

The result of that partnership is a foundational skills training program that helps meet the needs of local IT companies and equips Kalamazoo Promise eligible individuals, and city residents, with the skills needed to be successful in an entry-level technology position. Upon graduation, the KTTP also provides students the opportunity for practical work experience by offering a paid six-week internship.

This year’s program, officially titled “Google IT Support Professional Certificate Training Program”, had a class of 7 students, and they graduated in July 2020. Soon we will be announcing one of them as a new intern on our team!

Sarah Klerk, Director of Workforce Strategy at The Kalamazoo Promise said:

“The KTTP business partners believe that to create a more diverse and skilled IT talent pipeline, businesses need to participate. I have worked with industry partnerships nationally, and I have never seen the type of commitment that the KTTP has made. They are all in, and it is remarkable. Their core values align with the values we need in Kalamazoo to strengthen the local economy and to ensure Promise students and individuals that live in the community can access good, living wages jobs in Kalamazoo. We have so much talent in the city, and we need business partners to lean in and help connect that talent to opportunity. Kalamazoo is a special place, and The KTTP is another example of that.”

Stay tuned for future announcements regarding Newmind Group’s KTTP graduate intern!

Garrett Wenger

Garrett Wenger is a storyteller and marketer at Newmind Group, and a native to Kalamazoo, MI. He received his BFA in English Literature from Western Michigan University, and has heritage in Southwest Michigan’s creative writing community. He published his first book of poetry in late 2013, and he has been featured in numerous literary journals.