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Applications for First Class Due by January 11

Downers Grove, Ill. — After three successful pop-up classes in the Chicagoland area, Creating IT Futures is launching a permanent home for its free IT-Ready career program in Chicago. With financial support from Boeing for its first Chicago class in 2019, IT-Ready trains, certifies and places unemployed and under-employed adults in their first jobs in the information technology (IT) field.

With a shortage of qualified workers, the IT industry has more than 30,000 tech jobs open in the greater Chicago area. IT-Ready will host an 8-week class at Northeastern Illinois University’s El Centro campus in the Avondale area of Chicago starting February 11. Applications will be accepted through January 11 at www.ITReady.com.

Students work toward CompTIA A+ certification in Creating IT Futures’ IT-Ready Technical Support class. The full-time classroom-based course is underwritten by grants and financial donations, so that students can attend classes for free. 

“We’re excited to have the support of Boeing to help establish a permanent home for IT-Ready in the Chicago area,” said Charles Eaton, CEO of Creating IT Futures. “Beyond our training and certifications, we work with our students to connect them to local employers. With our current 2018 class that’s graduating in Naperville in January, we already have more than a dozen local employers signed on to interview students. About 86% of our graduates across all our IT-Ready programs find full-time employment in the tech industry.” 

What Do IT-Ready Students Learn?
In the IT-Ready Tech Support class, students participate in taking apart and building desktop computers and other hardware; learn about motherboards, printers, peripheral devices, memory and physical storage, connections and mobile devices; set up computer networks and troubleshoot networks, displays, printers, and operating systems; configure operating systems and hardware; and secure networks, systems and data.

IT-Ready students also receive targeted professional development in key business “soft” skills such as professional communication and presentation, teamwork and collaboration, and critical thinking and problem solving. IT-Ready graduates are grounded in these key skills and prepared to apply them on day one of their new jobs. After completing their training, the students sit for the CompTIA A+ certification exam which covers desktop and help-desk technical support duties and skills.

IT-Ready students receive free tuition, books and learning materials, more than 240 hours of classroom and hands-on tech and soft skills training, and certification vouchers. 

The class in the Avondale area of Chicago will run from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. every weekday from February 11 to April 5. To demonstrate their commitment to the training and pursuing an IT career, IT-Ready students are allowed only one absence and two late days during the program. The class will be held at NEIU El Centro, 3390 N. Avondale Ave, Chicago, IL 60618.

Beyond recruiting for participants for IT-Ready training, Creating IT Futures is looking for Chicago businesses to consider the resumes of certified IT-Ready graduates and interview qualified candidates for entry-level IT positions. Interested employers should contact Anderson Lee at alee@comptia.org.

Potential employers, mentors, students and community partners can learn more at www.ITReady.com.

About Creating IT Futures 
Founded in 1998 by CompTIA, Creating IT Futures is a 501(c)(3) charity with the mission of helping populations under-represented in the information technology industry and individuals who are lacking in opportunity to prepare for, secure, and be successful in IT careers. Learn more at www.creatingITfutures.org. 

Media Contact:
Lisa Fasold                                                         
Creating IT Futures                         
630-678-8558                                                    
lfasold@comptia.org