by Kelly Rogge, KCKCC public information manager
Kansas City Kansas Community College has expanded its involvement with Amazon’s Career Choice program, providing Amazon’s hourly employees access to any credit-bearing certificate or degree at KCKCC.
This program is designed to help frontline employees grow their skills for career success at Amazon or elsewhere, according to a spokesman.
“KCKCC is thrilled to be selected as a local educational partner for Amazon,” said Dr. Tami Bartunek, vice president of strategic initiatives and outreach for KCKCC. “Amazon hourly employees now have the opportunity to become Blue Devils and advance their education by completing high quality, valuable credit-bearing technical programs or associate degrees. The relationship between KCKCC and Amazon will prove to advance many educational dreams.”
KCKCC, a public two-year institution in Wyandotte County, is the third largest community college in Kansas. The college is committed to students and strives to ensure all students have a positive and successful post-secondary experience, the spokesman said. KCKCC’s multiple locations provide learning opportunities for students throughout the Kansas City area.
According to The Economics of Education Review, a Kansas study found students who return to college and finish a bachelor’s degree earn on average $4,200 more immediately after graduation and experience an extra income growth of $1,100 per year, on average.
Amazon’s Career Choice program is an education benefit that empowers employees and meets individual learners where they are on their education journey through a variety of education and upskilling opportunities. These include full college tuition, industry certifications designed to lead to in-demand jobs and foundational skills such as English language proficiency, high school diplomas and GEDs. In the U.S., the company is investing $1.2 billion to increase the skills of more than 300,000 employees by 2025 to help move them into higher-paying, in-demand jobs.
Employees can take classes online, in-person at a local campus or on-site in one of the more than 110 Career Choice classrooms located in fulfillment centers in 37 states.
Since launching in 2012, Career Choice has helped provide education for more than 50,000 employees by partnering with more than 140 national and local colleges and universities. Career Choice is one of nine free skills training and education programs that Amazon offers to its employees as part of its Upskilling 2025 pledge. Employees can participate every year they work at Amazon and are eligible after only 90 days of employment.
“We’re looking forward to Kansas City Kansas Community College continuing as an education partner for Career Choice, adding to the hundreds of best-in-class offerings available to our employees,” said Tammy Thieman, global program lead of Amazon’s Career Choice program, in a news release. “We have intentionally cultivated a partner network of third-party educators and employers committed to providing excellent education, job placement resources and continuous improvements to the experience. Today, over 50,000 Amazon employees around the world have already participated in Career Choice and we’ve seen first-hand how it can transform their lives.”
KCKCC was chosen through a rigorous third-party educator selection process with Amazon’s Career Choice program featuring partners that are focused on helping employees through their education programs, assisting them with job placements and overall offering education that leads to career success.
For more information about Amazon’s Career Choice program, visit https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/career-choice.