Provider Equips Homeless Youth, U.S. Government with 21st Century Skills

CARY, N.C. and TORONTO - Global Knowledge, the world's leading learning services and professional development solutions provider, has been honored with Microsoft's 2015 YouthSpark Citizen Partner of the Year Award and Microsoft's Partner of the Year Finalist Award for excellence in IT training and public service.

Both awards recognize Global Knowledge for its innovative training programs and commitment to helping individuals and teams acquire the technical knowledge and capabilities to be competitive in the marketplace today and in the future, regardless of their socioeconomic status or learning style.

Through the "Learn to Code" pilot program, Global Knowledge provided Toronto-based homeless teens and young adults with valuable coding, programming and other fundamental computer skills to improve their job readiness and career outlooks. The winning YouthSpark program was a partnership between Global Knowledge, CCI Learning and Covenant House, the largest privately funded homeless youth charity in the Americas. Students were also able to take Microsoft Technology Associate classes and a pre-employment workshop covering Microsoft Word, Excel and OneNote to learn resume-building and other professional communication and analysis skills.

"Addressing the IT skills gap takes out-of-the box thinking," said Brian Branson, CEO and president, Global Knowledge. "This ongoing basic computer literacy program enables us to start empowering the next generation of Web developers and opens up the digital world to an untapped resource: disenfranchised young adults. These students have the ability to transform their lives and the IT industry with these new skills."

While the YouthSpark Citizenship award recognizes Global Knowledge as a company that prepares young people with 21st century skills, the Microsoft Learning Partner of the Year Finalist Award honors learning providers who deploy cutting-edge practices and create innovative training solutions.

Global Knowledge worked with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Navy to train personnel on Microsoft applications, including System Center, Exchange Server, Windows Server, SQL Server, Windows Client and SharePoint Server. Students were provided additional assistance outside of class with unlimited access to online mentors and indexed, searchable video recordings of their sessions. Such a wide range of post-class learning tools is rare within the training industry. Global Knowledge is the only company to provide 12 months of post-class Microsoft training exclusives.

"Learning isn't a one-time event," said Michael Fox, SVP, Enterprise Solutions for Global Knowledge. "We feel students should have the ability to go back to their course recordings and lab environments so they can perfect their newfound skills. Mentoring support and class retakes also ensure an individual has all the easily accessible tools they need to succeed."

About Global Knowledge

Global Knowledge is the world's leading learning services and professional development solutions provider. We deliver learning solutions to support customers as they adapt to key business transformations and technological advancements that drive the way that organizations around the world differentiate themselves and thrive. Our learning programs, whether designed for a global organization or an individual professional, help businesses close skills gaps and foster an environment of continuous talent development.

Offering the most relevant and timely content delivered by the best instructors, we provide customers around the world with their choice of customized private programs, convenient public training scheduling options, flexible delivery formats and continuous learning support to accelerate their success. Our business skills solutions teach essential communications skills, leadership development, business analysis, project management, IT service management and process improvement. With thousands of courses spanning from foundational training to specialized certifications, our core IT training is focused on technology partners such as Amazon Web Services, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, Red Hat, SAP and VMware. We offer comprehensive professional development for advancements in application development, big data analytics, change management, cloud computing, cybersecurity and networking.

Founded in 1995, Global Knowledge employs more than 1,300 people worldwide and is headquartered in Cary, North Carolina.