Miami Dade College’s Tesla START Program Selected for New Models for Career Preparation National Cohort

MDC among six colleges that stood out for their quality non-degree workforce programs leading to quality jobs and careers.

Miami, May 6, 2021 – Miami Dade College’s (MDC) Tesla START program has been selected by New America to participate in its 2021 New Models for Career Preparation National Cohort. MDC is one of only six colleges chosen nationally for the initiative, which is supported by the Lumina Foundation.

MDC and Tesla START partnered to offer the Advanced Automotive Service Technology – Tesla Technician Career Technical Certificate, an intensive 15-week electric vehicle service training program that prepares students for service technician roles with Tesla. During the program, housed at the West Campus, students develop technical expertise through a blended approach of in-class theory, hands-on labs and self-paced learning. Students are paid a stipend while in the program and earn certification from MDC and Tesla.

The New Models for Career Preparation initiative was launched to better understand how community colleges–with the support of public policy–can build quality, non-degree programs.  The initiative aims to develop new career preparation models that offer faster, more affordable and equitable employer-aligned pathways for non-degree pursuing students to find their way into high-quality jobs. The diverse, national cohort of quality non-degree programs will allow New America to reverse engineer and unpack design principles, effective practices, and scalable elements that make these programs work so well. Along with their partners at the Nonprofit Finance Fund, New America will provide technical assistance and a deeper understanding of how colleges can sustainably finance quality non-degree programs. Learn more here.

About New America

Since 1999, New America has nurtured a new generation of policy experts and public intellectuals. Today they are a community of innovative problem-solvers, combining core expertise in researching, reporting and analysis with new areas of coding, data science, and human-centered design to experiment and innovate nationally and globally. For more information, visit www.newamerica.org.