EXCLUSIVE: Fox News Digital got an inside look at a Houston training site preparing blue-collar workers for construction jobs tied to the massive infrastructure buildout powering Americas artificial intelligence boom.
The site will host a new training program under Americas Workforce Academy, a Meta-backed initiative aimed at expanding the skilled-trades workforce needed for data centers and other infrastructure projects.
Meta is investing an initial $115 million in the academy and working with Associated Builders and Contractors, CBRE, the National Urban League and local organizations on workforce-training programs around the country.
In Houston, Meta is partnering with Associated Builders and Contractors on a general construction training program scheduled to begin Nov. 2.
Separately, the academy launched its fiber technician training program, developed with CBRE, in July in Indianapolis and Columbus. The first class graduated in August, and new classes begin every week.
In an interview with Fox News Digital at the , Joel Thames, ABC vice president of health, safety, environment and workforce development, described Americas Workforce Academy as “the largest workforce development investment in history.”
He said that while blue-collar workers are often left out of the debate over artificial intelligence, the academy will give everyday Americans a stake in the data-center buildout while preparing them for jobs in construction.
“This program is heavily weighted towards the worker,” he explained.
“There’s a lot of controversy that surrounds data centers and we encourage folks to get involved and really question and understand what’s being built in their backyards,” he said. “But if they are going to be built, our goal is to ensure that the worker is safe, they go home safe every night, that they build them correctly, and that they earn credentials that they can take into other facets of construction.”
Announced earlier this year, Americas Workforce Academy has been praised by blue-collar advocate Mike Rowe for working to “completely rethink the way we train the next generation of skilled workers.”
According to Meta, graduates of the Houston programs four-week intensive training will earn an industry-recognized National Center for Construction Education and Research credential and an Americas Workforce Certificate.
Thames said the program is responding to demand for skilled workers as construction expands around data centers and other infrastructure projects. He cited a shortage of approximately 349,000 U.S. workers needed to meet current construction demand.
Meta has framed the broader workforce initiative in similar terms.
“The United States labor market needs hundreds of thousands of fiber technicians, welders, plumbers, electricians and other skilled trade workers,” the company said in a news statement. “At Meta, we see this as an incredible opportunity for these American heroes to power Americas future.”
Thames said Meta approached ABC with a plan that included job opportunities for workers and funding for the training, while ABC would handle instruction and credentialing.
The Houston-area program will operate out of an approximately 20,000-square-foot facility near the Houston Ship Channel equipped with classrooms, a computer lab and two bays for hands-on practical training.
The facility is operated by the Construction & Maintenance Education Foundation, a nonprofit educational affiliate of ABC Greater Houston that will
