Accelerate Her Future
™ (AHF) is excited to announce that it is receiving funding through the Province of
Ontario’s Skills Development Fund (SDF) Round 2. The funding will be used to launch a Virtual Career Accelerator program for self-identifying Black, Indigenous, and racialized women.
AHF’s Virtual Career Accelerator is a by-application program that will support 36 Black, Indigenous, and racialized women based in Ontario, who will participate in a 16-week holistic training program. The program will provide career readiness bootcamps, tech upskilling in one of three streams (web development, data analytics and UX design/digital marketing), mentorship, career coaching and mental health training. Applications will open in late Spring and the program itself will launch late Summer. An additional 40 participants will be invited to attend the career readiness bootcamp components of the program.
“The future of work is here, and we need to ensure women have the training and skills they need to succeed in the 21st century economy,” said Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development. “I’m proud to support this innovative program, which will break down barriers and get more women into exciting careers in programming, data analytics and digital marketing.”
“Black, Indigenous, and racialized women have tremendous value to offer workplaces, yet have historically faced barriers to the labour market, exacerbated by the pandemic,” said Dr. Golnaz Golnaraghi, Founder & President of Accelerate Her Future
™. “With support from Minister McNaughton, we’re excited to launch the Virtual Career Accelerator program — a holistic and innovative program — that will offer rich opportunities, learning, and upskilling while also creating the conditions for self-empowerment and resiliency.”
Through a collaboration with
Riipen, AHF will match Virtual Career Accelerator program participants with Ontario-based small or medium-sized business for paid work-integrated learning projects, with priority given to businesses led and run by Black, Indigenous, and racialized women. The work-integrated learning projects will enable businesses to address pressing challenges related to the digital skills developed in this program. This program will also support businesses by diversifying their talent pipeline and support growing the employer network of participants.
“On behalf of Accelerate Her Future
™, I would like to thank the Province of Ontario for their investment in the Virtual Career Accelerator Lab for Black, Indigenous, and racialized women,” adds Dr. Golnaraghi.
Read the full press release here.
Sign up for our waitlist to be notified of when applications open.
Photo by
Christina @ wocintechchat.com on
Unsplash 
