American multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs is establishing a workforce development program in Baltimore and three other cities.
The firm announced the 10,000 Small Businesses Fellows initiative Monday in which local college students will be matched with small businesses struggling to find workers due to the pandemic.
Developed in partnership with Johns Hopkins University, the new program will award paid internships funded by the Goldman Sachs Foundation to qualified students at community colleges and historically Black colleges and universities. The first batch of 120 students will come from the Community College of Baltimore County, Morgan State University, and other colleges in Cleveland, Dallas, and New York.
Helping Communities Bounce Back
The venture expands the existing 10,000 Small Businesses training program which began in Baltimore in 2017 and has already worked with 460 local establishments. Goldman Sachs hopes to continue what it started by recruiting even more workers for challenged businesses.
The number of students included in the program is expected to increase each semester, as foundation president Asahi Pompey stresses how talent recruitment has been a long-standing challenge for small local businesses.
The investment bank acknowledges that this will be critical to the economic recovery of many cities, as small businesses employ almost half of the US workforce.
“At the same time, historically underserved community college students haven’t always had equal access to the professional experiences and support that are essential to career success. There has never been a more critical moment to invest in the growth and success of our workforce,” Pompey said.
Other colleges participating in the program include Dallas College, LaGuardia Community College, and Cuyahoga Community College.