As part of the company's continuing commitment to support workforce development efforts and strong local economies, AT&T has announced the finalists of their $20k for 2020 workforce development competition.

The eight organizations are from across the state and have shown a sustained commitment to addressing the current and future workforce needs in the community.

• Albany Technical College

• Chattahoochee Technical College – Veterans Center

• Communities in Schools – Augusta/Richmond County

• Decatur Education Fund

• DeKalb Workforce Development

• Lanier Technical College Foundation

• The nsoro Educational Foundation

• Savannah Technical College

With the state's recent ranking as the number one state to do business, AT&T is working to help support and amplify organizations that are engaged in education and workforce development efforts around Georgia. These organizations have been identified as key contributors towards improving Georgia's already great workforce. Their engagement of business, community and educational leaders is helping to address local workforce needs and further position Georgia as the best place to do business in the country.

As part of this effort, each of the eight finalists have received a contribution from AT&T of $12,000. To receive the full $20,000 donation, the organizations are creating short videos that tell the story of their organization – describing what they do, who they work with, and the impact they have on their communities. The organizations with the most retweets on twitter will receive an additional contribution. The social media competition, called $20k for 2020, will take place from July 18-22, 2016, and allow them to tell their story.

"These organizations show a strong commitment to addressing and meeting the needs of our workforce here in Georgia, and with the adoption of new technologies and increasing connectivity, the skills that these organizations are developing in Georgians all across the state are invaluable," said Bill Leahy, president of AT&T Georgia. "Here at AT&T, we are aggressively pursuing efforts to establish a lifetime commitment to skills development among our employees, and we are proud to support the efforts of these organizations."

Participating organizations:

Albany Technical College provides technical education and training support for evolving workforce development needs of Southwest Georgia. In part, through this funding, Albany Technical College will serve as a centralized innovation and build center to help promote collaboration and success with current and start-up robotic teams for the 2016-2017 FIRST Robotics Season.  Approximately 75 students – the large majority of which are students at Monroe High School, Dougherty High School, Albany High School, Westover High School, and Albany Technical College – from will engage in robotics fabrications, engineering and drafting designs, electrical and pneumatic systems.

Chattahoochee Technical College created the Veterans Center to support the over 700 students who have identified themselves as former military or veteran family members.  The primary objective of the Veterans Program is to assist veterans and their families as they transition to a post-secondary academic environment to promote program completion and career placement.

Communities In Schools Augusta Richmond County has been a vibrant and independent nonprofit organization since 1996, that is governed by a local board of directors who are dedicated to surrounding public school students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. Funding from AT&T will help support the Robotics program, which is an 8-week after-school program geared to students that do not have access or the ability to participate in a STEM program of this nature.

The Decatur Education Foundation works to help Decatur youth realize their full potential, not only in the classroom but also through learning experiences that contribute to personal development. Their work with the Decatur Robotics Program is about more than just building robots. With sufficient mentors and team members, we can structure ourselves as an entrepreneurial venture with different divisions to accomplish the team's goals – including fundraising and marketing, public relations and outreach, robot design/manufacturing, and social media relations – while providing an accessible environment where any student from the City of Decatur can participate without regard to socioeconomics, gender, race, or technical experience.

DeKalb Workforce Development seeks to provide workforce investment activities through statewide and local investment systems that increase employment, retention and earnings of participants. The organization's goals are to increase occupational skill attainment by participants, improve the quality of the workforce, reduce welfare dependency, and enhance the productivity and competitiveness of the Nation.  DeKalb Workforce Development administers various employment/training programs for Adults, Dislocated Workers and Youth ages 14-24.

The Lanier Technical College Foundation supports the goals of Lanier Technical College – the foremost workforce development resource for Banks, Barrow, Dawson, Forsyth, Hall, Jackson, and Lumpkin counties.  by providing career-technical education programs, offered through traditional and distance delivery methods, leading to associate degrees, diplomas, and technical certificates of credit; customized business and industry training and economic development services; continuing education for technical and professional development; and adult education services. 

The nsoro Educational Foundation is designed to cultivate a "circle of support" that nurtures and provides guidance to children in foster care, kinship care and those who have aged-out of care.  Through its Educational Foundation CollegeBound program, they offer youth in high school an opportunity to experience college life in a safe, supportive, and nurturing environment specifically tailored to meet their educational needs.

Savannah Technical College is a public, two year college that provides world class education, skills training and lifelong learning opportunities through the delivery of associate degrees, diplomas, technical certificates of credit and non-credit economic development programs and adult education. Savannah Technical College has partnered with the City of Savannah, to deliver The Summer 500 program. The program, created by the City, will identify and place 500 rising high school seniors in a paid 9 week summer apprenticeship program. It will include one day per week of employability skills training to be delivered by Savannah Technical College.