Northwest Innovation Resource Center highlights data-analytics training; graduate presents local placements

The Northwest Innovation Resource Center told the Everett City Council Aug. 27 that its data analytics training and employer-placement program has placed recent graduates on short-term projects with local businesses and nonprofits to help both jobseekers and employers.

Diane Kumyanka, executive director of the Northwest Innovation Resource Center, introduced a recent graduate, Fatima Ahmed, who participated remotely. Ahmed described a roughly 20-week data analytics program and said the internship-style projects let graduates add real project experience to their resumes. "This program does not just help individuals. It directly helps the city of Everett by building a stronger local workforce with demand data skills," Ahmed said.

Kumyanka said the organization worked with Workforce Snohomish to identify small local organizations with projects that could use analytics and then paired those projects with graduates. She described projects with the Everett Station District Alliance (mapping services and identifying gaps), a local firm described in the briefing as Green Project Solutions (efficiency and profitability analysis), and the Washington West African Center, which the director said previously recorded many client interactions on paper and benefited from automation and improved data intake.

Kumyanka and council members praised the program's local workforce and equity benefits. The council also heard that one partner organization has served more than 4,000 West African individuals in Everett and that using analytics allowed staff there to reduce manual intake and increase capacity.

The presentation was brief and the council had no action items tied to the briefing. Staff thanked the Northwest Innovation Resource Center and noted continued opportunities to connect trained workers with local employers.