Rep Khanna headed to Appalachia to support program that trains young people for tech jobs

Rep Ro Khanna (D-CA), whose Silicon Valley district is home to Apple, Google, Facebook and Tesla, says he’ll travel to Appalachia in March to lend his support to a program that trains young people — including the children of coal miners — for jobs like coding and computer tech.

The March 13 trip to Paintsville (KY) a rural community several hours east of Louisville, was organized with the help of tech giants like Cupertino-based Apple Computers. The plan is to train at least 40 young adults for four months in tech and software development, followed by four-month paid internships, said Khanna, a Democrat. According to Khanna’s office, the program is being funded with $4.5 million from TechHire Eastern Kentucky in cooperation with the Appalachian Regional Commission. It’s part of a 2015 TechHire initiative launched by the Obama administration.