Facebook picks Baltimore for digital business training workshops

Facebook plans to bring a free digital training program to Baltimore this fall.
According to an announcement issued Thursday by the social giant, workshops held as part of the Community Boost series are scheduled for Nov. 12-14 in Baltimore.
The workshops aim to provide training for entrepreneurs and job seekers to use digital tools – namely, Facebook – to grow businesses and market themselves. In all, the company wants to provide training to 1 million people in the next two years.

“We’re inspired by what small businesses have been able to do using Facebook, but we want to do more—particularly for those who are transitioning to careers that require digital skills,”  Doug Frisbie, Global Marketing Director of Small Business for Facebook, said in a statement. “Small businesses everywhere are using social media to grow and create new opportunities in their communities, so we’re bringing our training program to Baltimore to help local entrepreneurs learn those skills.”

Baltimore is one of nine cities announced as sites for the next round of workshops, and the only one in Maryland. The company is aiming to visit 50 U.S. cities this year.
As part of the announcement, Facebook also released the results of research it conducted with Morning Consult and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for Maryland. It found 8 in 10 small businesses looking to hire ranked digital skills and social media as more important than where a prospective employee went to school.
An exact location has yet to be announced. Entrepreneurs will be able to sign up about a month in advance of the event, according to Facebook.