LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Amazon announced its first group of graduates from a GED pilot program launched earlier this year in partnership with Jefferson Community and Technical College, one of 16 colleges in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS). The program is designed to advance the education of employees without their high school diploma or GED equivalency and provides access to free educational resources in the state of Kentucky.
Amazon is committed to empowering employees with access to the education and training they need to grow their careers at Amazon. This program is another way Amazon is working to help employees further their career goals.
In partnership with KCTCS, Kentucky’s primary provider of college and workforce readiness, transfer education, and workforce education and training, Amazon aims to increase opportunities for potential participants to improve their quality of life and overall employability across the various communities in which it operates.
Fast Facts: Amazon’s GED pilot program in Kentucky
- In Kentucky alone, there are nearly 317,000 working-age individuals who are working without a GED credential or high school diploma.
- In June, Amazon’s pilot program had its first-ever GED graduates with three additional participants slated to graduate in mid-September.
- Currently, there are more than 150 employee participants enrolled in the program.
- The GED program launched in April 2021, at the Shepherdsville fulfillment center and officially expanded beyond Kentucky facilities in August to Cincinnati, Ohio, and Jeffersonville, Indiana.
- To date, Amazon has partnered with Kentucky Community and Technical College System (Kentucky), WorkOne (Indiana), Ivy Tech (Indiana), Cincinnati Public Schools (Ohio), and Great Oaks School (Ohio).
Since the Career Choice program has launched, more than 40,000 employees have pursued degrees in game design and visual communications, nursing, IT programming, and radiology, among other fields. In addition, Amazon is committed to empowering employees with access to the education and training they need to grow their careers at Amazon and beyond. The company-funded upskilling programs help support Amazon employees as they gain critical skills to advance their careers and move into in-demand, higher-paying, technical and non-technical roles.
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