The Alberta government is rolling out new program funding announcing a grant to help prepare immigrant and indigenous women for careers in technology.

Peace Ilondior moved to Calgary from Nigeria in January.

She holds a bachelors in Zoology and a Masters in Environmental Science but to find a good job in Calgary she’s signed up for a new course to become a Cisco certified network specialist.

“It's going to be like network administration so I can help businesses with their software getting it working and managing their computers and hardware,” says Ilondior.

The 24 week long class will be run through the Making Changes Association and 15 women will be taught by volunteers from Yycnet Labs which hopes graduates will pay it back by returning as instructors.

 “If we had more people trained in this field with a little bit of free time that they could donate back in terms of volunteer hours we'd be able to grossly scale this kind of endeavor,” says Mike Simoens from Yycnet Labs.

A provincial grant funds the program this year with no promise it will be renewed but the Minister for the Status of Women says more funding announcements are on the way

“I’m happy to say we will open a new grant intake this year to support programs just like this one this is what happens when women have an equal voice in the halls of power and in the cabinet room,” says Stephanie McLean.

The program’s director hopes to continue it into 2018 but admits the $100,000 grant is only enough for the initial class.

“I believe there are opportunities to fund where people do get jobs and are successful after the conclusion of the program,” says Cathy Coutts from the Making Changes Association.  “We are going to have to apply for further funding through a variety of sources to keep the program going after the first year.”

Thursday’s announcement in Calgary is one of several Alberta-wide as the NDP roll out $1.5 million in funding in support of women across the province.

While only $1.5 million is being handed out; the minister says she received over $14 million in funding requests.

(With files from Kevin Green)