Caterpillar Foundation Invests in Future Workers

  Caterpillar announced Friday a $4.5 million Caterpillar Foundation investment in job training directed at disadvantaged youth in Latin America and the Caribbean. The pledge toward the New Employment Opportunities (NEO) is part of the foundation's three year , $105 million investment that was initiated last year to support the International Youth Foundation job training program. The 10 year goals for the NEO include training one million disadvantaged youth using models that incorporate best practices of job training programs, achieving job placement rates of at least 50 percent for its graduates, ensuring that half or more of the youth trained are girls and young women and mobilizing 1000 companies to offer internships and employment opportunities for youth. The remainder of the dollars will be invested in similar IYF job training programs in China, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Russia, Singapore and South Africa to help increase the pipeline and skill levels of manufacturing candidates.