Meta trade school to train thousands of workers to build AI infrastructure

Americans can learn how to build Meta’s data centers in a free four-week training program called America’s Workforce Academy, Meta announced June 8.

“The United States labor market needs hundreds of thousands of fiber technicians, welders, plumbers, electricians and other skilled trade workers,” Meta’s website for the academy says. “At Meta, we see this as an incredible opportunity for these American heroes to power America’s future.”

In partnership with Associated Builders and Contractors and CBRE, participants will spend the four weeks learning electrical, HVAC and other fiber-laying trades and are guaranteed a job at one of Meta’s data center construction sites in Indiana, Ohio, Louisiana or Texas.

Savannah Morris, executive director of the Richland Parish Chamber of Commerce, told The Lion northeast Louisiana is excited for the opportunity to work with Meta.

“Meta has been a great community partner with us so far,” Morris said. “They really worked hard to be connected in the community, as well as provide opportunity in the community.”

In February 2026, northeast Louisiana faced incredible damage from Winter Storm Fern, an arctic blast that downed trees, cut power, and took the lives of two men. Meta helped stabilize the Richland Parish area by organizing the return of power to the city, providing food vouchers to families who couldn’t cook and working with local authorities to clear the roads.

“We are supporting that initiative, and the goal is to train the participants with the resources that they need to work at the data center and do related tasks for the Richland Parish Data Center,” Morris said. “We’re super excited that the program will be in Baton Rouge, which is not far from here, and we hope some of the trainees that attend there get hired locally here for the data center. We hope it’s an opportunity that people from our community can take advantage of to apply for positions and keep the sources as local as possible.”

The initiative comes as the Trump administration promotes AI development and amid debate in many local communities that don’t want data centers built nearby.

America’s Workforce Academy builds upon “Level-Up,” the Meta fiber installation program launched April 20. That program received 35,000 applications in the first seven days of the application’s opening.

Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of National Urban League, a partner of the initiative, supports this project to stabilize American families.

“The kind of bold, inclusive investment our economy urgently needs,” Morial said in a statement. “At a time when too many Americans are searching for pathways to stable, family-supporting careers, this initiative opens doors.”

Application for the program remains open, and applicants are admitted on a rolling basis.