Mega tech company Meta is putting millions into central Ohio trades to support training for its rapidly growing data center footprint in the region.
The parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp announced its launch of America’s Workforce Academy on June 8, which promises to “fast-track” participants to long-term careers like welders, plumbers, technicians, electricians and more at no cost to the person being trained.
Columbus is one of four pilot locations across the country that will share a one-year, $115 million investment, alongside Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Houston, Texas, and Indianapolis. The pilot cities were selected, in part, by where Meta currently has data centers.
Columbus was likely an easy choice. Central Ohio is home to the vast majority of Ohio’s data centers, including Meta’s New Albany data center campus, which sports 2.5 million square feet in five permanent data center structures alone. Meta has been adding to what it’s calling the Prometheus supercluster since 2022.
“The AI revolution is bringing change but also historic opportunities,” Dina Powell McCormick, Meta president and vice-chairman, said in a press release. “Skilled workers electrified rural America one pole at a time. They manned the factories that built the arsenal that won World War II. Now a new generation will pour the foundations and lay the fiber that secures American strength in this new age.”
While AI has certainly made a home in Ohio, communities and lawmakers have soured on data centers in recent months, with Gov. Mike DeWine pausing sales tax breaks for data centers after such incentives cost the state nearly $1.6 billion in 2025.
How America’s Workforce Academy works
Program participants will pay nothing for a five-week bootcamp, including housing and airfare, and are guaranteed a job offer with one of Meta’s contractor partners if they successfully complete their training.
These partners, Meta said in the press release, are “established companies with long track records in construction.” Skills developed during the five-week bootcamp include electrical, mechanical, plumbing and fiber installation, which Meta points out are “in demand” across the country for various projects beyond data centers, like housing and energy infrastructure.
But participants aren’t tied to Meta after they complete training. They’re free to seek work with other companies in any other sector. Graduates earn credentials and certificates that are “designed to travel with the worker across employers and industry sectors.”
The program partners with the Nation Urban League, the Associated Builders and Contractors, and Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis global real estate. In the Buckeye State, Meta has struck up a partnership with the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.
Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, called the program a “bold, inclusive investment” in the prepared release.
“At a time when too many Americans are searching for pathways to stable, family-supporting careers, this initiative opens doors, particularly for communities who historically have been excluded from opportunity,” Morial said. “By removing cost barriers, providing industry-recognized credentials and guaranteeing employment, [the academy] is helping to build a more equitable and resilient workforce for the future.”
Meta officials say they don’t have a specific number it’s looking for to fill America’s Workforce Academy program spots. The program was inspired by the “huge demand” Meta saw for a similar initiative, “Level Up,” a fiber installation training program that received 35,000 applicants in the first week.
Those interested in applying to America’s WOrkforce Academy can apply at this link provided by Meta.
Business and consumer issues reporter Samantha Hendrickson can be reached at shendrickson@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Meta invests millions in Columbus trades to support data center growth
Reporting by Samantha Hendrickson, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Samantha Hendrickson, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
