$2 million grant supports Miami Dade–led national consortium training next-gen AI talent
A new national partnership anchored in the community college system is positioning itself at the center of America’s artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. The National Applied AI Consortium (NAAIC)—led by Miami Dade College with Houston City College and Maricopa Community Colleges—has received a $2 million grant from Google.org to expand applied AI training across the country.
Launched in 2024 with support from the National Science Foundation, NAAIC has quickly become the nation’s largest network for hands-on AI education. Its mission is to ensure that the benefits of artificial intelligence extend beyond research universities and tech hubs to every community in the United States.
“In just one year, we’ve seen how community colleges can redefine who gets to participate in the AI economy,” said Antonio Delgado, Vice President of Innovation and Technology Partnerships at Miami Dade College and Executive Director of NAAIC. “The Google.org funding amplifies that mission, giving us the ability to train more educators, mentor more colleges, and reach more students at scale.”
Scaling AI Literacy Nationwide
Since its launch, NAAIC has supported 320 colleges across 46 states and two U.S. territories, training more than 1,000 faculty members in applied AI and reaching 31,000 students. Participants have collectively completed over 10,000 hours of training from industry leaders such as Microsoft, Intel, AWS, Google, and OpenAI. That exposure has led to the creation of new AI certificates, associate degrees, and workforce development programs tailored to regional job markets.
“NAAIC has proven that when you train teachers, you transform systems,” said Samir Saber, Dean at Houston City College. “Faculty who had never touched AI are now leading courses in machine learning and computer vision, and their students are graduating into jobs that didn’t even exist a few years ago.”
The new funding will expand NAAIC’s mentorship network and support professional certifications for both community college and K–12 educators. It will also underwrite the first-ever NAAIC AI Summit, scheduled for February 2026 at Miami Dade College, which will bring together educators, industry leaders, and policymakers to discuss equitable workforce development in the age of AI.
Building Industry-Informed Pathways
At the heart of the consortium’s model is its Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT), which connects faculty directly with corporate and nonprofit partners such as Intel, AWS, Microsoft, and Jobs for the Future. The group helps align curricula with emerging workforce demands, ensuring that community college graduates are “AI-ready” from day one.
“Learning is a deeply human process that is anchored in community,” said Ben Gomes, Google’s Chief Technologist of Learning and Sustainability. “By collaborating with institutions whose work is core to these relationships, we hope to equip students with the lifelong skills they need to succeed in the AI era, from the classroom to their careers.”
Industry leaders argue that expanding AI education at the two-year level is vital to maintaining U.S. competitiveness. “This is an economic and national security imperative,” said Aaron Burciaga, Founder of Blue Collar AI and a member of NAAIC’s BILT. “Community colleges give the U.S. an edge by producing workforce-ready AI talent faster than universities. If we expand this effort, we don’t just compete, we lead.”
Looking Ahead
By 2027, NAAIC projects it will have trained 10,000 faculty nationwide, reached one million students, and helped launch 250 new AI-focused academic programs.
“The future of work is already here,” Delgado said. “Our job is to make sure every American has a place in it.”
