BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (WTVF) — Right now, Janet Curiel's life is pretty busy.
She's homeschooling three of her five children, and working remotely full-time.
"This is my workspace. It used to be a closet. My husband built it for me," said Janet Curiel, a graduate of Goodwill's Google Data Analytics Program.
A couple of years ago, she was set to lose her job.
"The company I was working for was doing layoffs," Curiel said.
She knew she needed to up her skill set, but as a busy mom with a tight budget, that was a tall order.
Then she found out Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee offers free computer training, on topics as complicated as coding, and as common as Microsoft Office programs.
"It finally felt like there was an open door to you know further opportunities," Curiel said.
Curiel completed two courses online studying Google Data Analytics.
That online training can be paired with some in-person classes as well at Goodwill Training Centers.
“We're here with our trainers. We are kind of that fail-safe for people who say, 'Hey, I still have questions on this, or I don't really understand how to do this',” said Emily Hurley, Goodwill's manager of technology training.
Hurley helps people enroll in the free training opportunities available at Goodwill.
“Our clients will sometimes say things like 'I'm not good at computers, or I haven't worked on a computer in a really long time', and then we're able to place them in the program that best matches what they need,”
For Curiel, the combination of online training and meeting with a career coach helped her land a new job.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at robb.coles@newschannel5.com.
Fundraising efforts are underway in Brownsville and Nutbush, TN to build a statue for a major superstar who was raised there, Anna Mae Bullock. You probably know her by her stage name, Tina Turner. I was a huge fan of Tina and glad to see efforts are underway to showcase more of her ties to West Tennessee.
-Lelan Statom
