PMI Dallas Chapter Partners With Local Children’s Hospital and Global Conductor Management Consulting to Provide Training and Real-World Experience to Open Doors for Dallas Inner-City Students, While Producing Needed Supplies for ICU Newborns
PLANO, TX–(Marketwired – September 30, 2016) – Most of us have worked on a project in school or our jobs, but very few know that being a project manager can be a rewarding career and are highly in demand for startup companies to F500 corporations. A new program, managed by the PMI Dallas Chapter, is aimed at opening eyes and doors for disadvantaged youth — bridging the education gap, and the talent gap, at the same time.
With no set educational or development path for project management, many students aren’t aware of the possibilities that exist, especially those in underprivileged areas where the impact of the education gap is most felt and opportunities are hard to come by. The Project Management Institute Dallas Chapter and their sponsor, Global Conductor Management Consulting, are working to be part of the solution, while addressing the corporate talent gap as well.
The 3.4% unemployment rate in DFW is contributing to a local talent gap, and Fortune 500 companies and consulting firms like Global Conductor are in constant need of local, certified Project Managers to meet their corporate objectives. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is home to 21 Fortune 500 companies and is one of America’s top 3 Fastest Growing Cities, according to Forbes.com. With more companies coming every year, skilled Project Management professionals will be increasingly hard to find.
“Global Conductor is excited to help these students open doors and be part of the solution, for our children and our community,” says Shanon Seward, Global Conductor’s Central Region VP. “This is a rare opportunity to bridge both the education, and the talent, gap. We look forward to being a continued partner of this exceptional program.”
The program supports the community as well — a local children’s hospital provides the “projects” for the students, which often involve providing needed supplies to the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit. Last year, they contracted with fellow design students to manufacture covers for infant positioning aids. Prior to that, the students designed and produced “lovies” that are placed with the infants and carry their mother’s scent.
The students get the full experience of Project Management from working with a real budget, vendors, deadlines, while learning critical skills such as public speaking, leadership, and planning. Students take on responsibility in a way many of them have never experienced before. Since the projects are real, there are real stakeholders, and infants, that are relying on them to succeed. As they meet with PMI professionals and discuss their project challenges, PMI members are always greatly impressed by the students’ work, and how similar it is to their own. As part of the next program Global Conductor will be arranging local Fortune 500 executives to meet with the students as well. Most important of all, the students learn that not only are these skills, and project management as a career, valuable, but also attainable.
“The challenge of working with disadvantaged youth is that, in some cases, you want more for them than they want for themselves. This program opens their eyes; they become excited and invested in their goal. The transformation is unbelievable,” remarks Talibah Adenouga, PMI Dallas Chapter liaison for student educational programs. Now a teacher at Skyline High School in Dallas, Talibah was raised in a similar neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, and became a Project Manager for AT&T at 20 years old.
PMI Dallas Chapter is focused on building awareness of the project management discipline and supporting the development of project management practitioners. The PMI Dallas Chapter is one of the largest in the world with 4,000 members in the Dallas area. This huge pool of skilled project managers is eager to share their knowledge to help the next generation enjoy the successes and challenges of project management. By reaching out to high-school students through this program, they are helping to prepare students with critical thinking skills and hoping they will take an interest in the profession.
Talibah hopes to expand the size and scope of the program to other schools and cities across the county, continuing to help underprivileged youth and communities across the country and expose them to the opportunities that a career in project management can provide. “Many of the students have never been put into an environment like this before. They get a real feel for how intense, and rewarding, a career like Project Management can be,” says Talibah. “Our goal is to help raise awareness, both in the educational and the corporate world, of the true value and benefit of certified project management. My team and I are so grateful for the encouragement of PMI and Global Conductor for supporting this remarkable program.”
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