Rackspace Hosting Partners with Alamo Colleges for $2.5 Million Job-Training Grant

Rackspace (RAX) and Alamo Colleges have partnered to provide job training to 1,000 workers, through the use of a $2.5 million Skills Development Fund grant from the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC).

The grant will be used to custom train 1,000 new workers (no matter what their background) as well as current Rackspace employees, in San Antonio, Austin and Dallas, and will provide cutting-edge training on technologies that support the Rackspace open cloud platform.

“As the open cloud company, Rackspace fully understands the importance of a highly engaged, cloud savvy workforce,” said Lanham Napier, Rackspace CEO.  “We are thrilled to be partnering with Alamo Colleges and see this as an exciting step forward in our journey to bridging the IT skills gap.”

Those trained will include technicians, Linux administrators and software developers. Upon completion of training, the new workers will earn an average hourly wage of $25.38.

“We have enjoyed a highly successful partnership with Rackspace in helping the company  train the skilled workers they need,” said Alamo Colleges Chancellor Dr. Bruce Leslie. “Partnerships such as this illustrate Alamo Colleges’ flexibility in addressing the needs of local employers while also providing students with tangible economic opportunities,” he added.

From the program’s inception in 1996 through 2012, Skills Development Fund grants have created or upgraded more than 286,000 jobs throughout Texas. The grants have assisted 3,901 employers with their customized training needs.

“Skills grants deliver customized training solutions that help Texas employers and workers succeed in the marketplace,” said TWC Chairman Andres Alcantar. “This investment builds not only employee skills, but the capabilities of our community colleges to the benefit of employers and the community. We are pleased to make this investment.”

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