Step IT Up America returns to Philly to recruit more women of color for IT training program

Step IT Up America signed up roughly 50 women of color for its 12-week IT training program the last time it came to Philly. Just more than a month after that first event, the organization, which has training programs in several U.S. cities, is returning to Philly in an effort to double the number of participants, said spokeswoman Nichole Taylor.

“We have clients in the pipeline ready to hire the women once they complete the program,” Taylor wrote in an email, though she declined to name the Philadelphia partners.

The registration session is today at the Mellon Independence Center in Center City at 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.

Walk-ins are also welcome.

In order to qualify for the 12-week paid training program, participants must be women of color with a high school diploma or GED, and be currently enrolled in a community college, or have 6 to 10 college credits completed. Women should also bring a resume and a cover letter and have basic computer skills and a passion for learning new technology.

UST Global, which runs Step IT Up, is a Southern California-based information technology solutions and services company that works with Global 1000 enterprises. It launched Step IT Up America in Atlanta back in January, and in March representatives from UST Global brought the program to Philadelphia. Ideally, it wants to employ more than 1,000 women of color from 10 major cities across America.