NTC Foundation

Investing to build the pathways for future technology professionals by developing problem solvers and creative thinkers.

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NTCF raises funds to support the NTC’s talent development initiatives to enhance the technology programs available to students in Middle Tennessee. Learn more about NTC’s efforts to develop tech talent in Middle Tennessee.

History

in 2008, the NTC created the Turning of the Tide of Technology (T3) initiative to help the local tech industry find qualified job applicants by connecting with area universities to guide curricula to meet local business needs. In 2014, the NTC’s talent development initiatives received the IT Pathways Collaborative grant by the State of Tennessee. In 2015, the NTC was named the lead organization for President Obama’s TechHire program, and received grant awards from JP Morgan Chase Foundation and the Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County to raise student awareness of tech career opportunities.

Leadership

NTC Foundation Executive Director

NTC Foundation Board Members

  • Brian Moyer, NTC President and CEO, Board Chair
  • Charlie Apigian, Middle Tennessee State University
  • Mark Davison, Delek
  • Kent Fourman, The General
  • Amy Henderson, LeanKit
  • Vanessa Hickman, Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority
  • Susan Lewis, Deloitte
  • Katherine McElroy, c3/consulting
  • William Orange, Nissan North America
  • Dennis Vaughan, HPE
  • Tim Walsh, Bridgestone Americas
  • Tiffany Woosley, Homeland

NTCF in Action

Through the NTCF Mission & Vision partners, we are able to fund programs that address the shortage of skilled technology workers by building the connections by building connections between students, technology professionals and educators.

  • Students can visit tech industry professionals for the day
  • Underserved student populations can attend camps to build sought-after technology skills and increase their future employability
  • Teachers can borrow a class set of robots to tech coding in their classrooms
  • Tech professionals can spend an “Hour of Code” with a classroom of eager learners

Current Projects

apprentI tennessee

Tech is expanding more rapidly than any other industry. One in 20 job openings is technology related, and that does not take into account the digital skills needed for almost every job. The NTC is creating Apprenti Tennessee, the first technology-focused apprenticeship program In Tennessee and will debut a pilot project in Nashville in 2018. The proposed model builds upon Governor Bill Haslam’s “Drive to 55” initiative with tuition-free industry certification training and subsequent mentoring support for new employees throughout their first year of employment.

Unlike internships or traditional job training options, Apprenti Tennessee combines paid on-the-job training and education with placement in highly skilled, salary-competitive occupations. The program works with the tech industry to identify mid-tier jobs ready to be filled by highly competent people – regardless of educational background. Apprenti Tennessee will actively recruit women, minorities, and veterans to aid in diversifying the tech industry, but everyone is eligible and encouraged to apply.

For more information, please fill out the form below:

Past Projects

IT Pathway Collaborative

The IT Pathway Collaborative addressed the challenge of the job candidate “IT skills gap” by promoting technology career opportunities in Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, and Sumner counties, in order to increase enrollment and graduation rates at the community colleges.

This project had 43 corporate partners representing over 3,000 technology workers in Middle Tennessee.  These technology industry partners invested in the IT Pathway Collaborative both financially and through the engagement of their employees.

2015 was the inaugural year for the IT Pathway Collaborative.  It was a year of piloting new programs, mapping the current landscape in Middle Tennessee, and improving processes in order to better scale in the future.

The IT Pathway Collaborative was funded by the State of Tennessee’s LEAP grant program.

TechHire Nashville

NTC works to expand access to tech jobs in Middle Tennessee. In March 2015,  President Obama named Nashville as one of the inaugural TechHire cities. To kick off Nashville TechHire, with almost 1600 open technology jobs and more than 40 employer partners in need of this workforce, the NTC lead the community to work together to new ways to recruit and place applicants based on their actual skills and to create more fast track tech training opportunities.

Tech Hire Nashville was a bold initiative and call to action to empower the citizens of Middle Tennessee with the skills they need, through universities and community colleges but also nontraditional approaches like “coding boot camps,” and high-quality online courses that rapidly trains workers for a well-paying job, often in just a few months.

Employers across Middle Tennessee are in great need of skilled IT workers. Many of these roles do not require a four-year computer science degree. The NTC worked, and continues to do so, with Middle Tennessee employers to identify appropriate opportunities to expand their hiring practices to focus on competencies rather than degrees.

The NTC:

  • Used data to encourage employers to be open to non-traditional hiring;
  • Worked with community partners to expand models for training that prepare students in months, not years; and
  • Provided local leadership to connect people to training and to jobs with hiring on ramp programs.