The New Jersey AI Hub and the New Jersey Council of County Colleges unveiled AI Ready NJ on June 8. This statewide collaboration will prepare students, teachers, and businesses for…
The New Jersey AI Hub and the New Jersey Council of County Colleges unveiled AI Ready NJ on June 8. This statewide collaboration will prepare students, teachers, and businesses for an economy transformed by artificial intelligence. All 18 community colleges in the state will participate. The program targets teacher training, institutional capability, and practical learning experiences.
Microsoft TechSpark supports the collaboration as part of its contribution to the NJ AI Hub. Princeton University, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, Microsoft, and CoreWeave started this public-private venture.
A teacher mini-grant program will provide microgrants to up to 100 teachers across the state. They’ll investigate how AI can be integrated into courses, assignments, and assessments. The New Jersey Council of County Colleges will oversee the grant process. It will help build communities of practice where teachers can share what they’ve learned. Participating colleges will also receive support for professional development and campus-wide implementation efforts.
“Community colleges are on the front lines of helping students and workers adapt to technological change,” said Liat Krawczyk, executive director of the NJ AI Hub, according to Patch. “AI Ready NJ gives colleges a practical way to build capacity together — supporting faculty as they test new approaches, helping students gain applied experience, and creating stronger feedback loops with employers to learn about the required skills and use cases emerging in real time.”
The program will also pilot what organizers expect to be the nation’s first AI-focused Sprinternships model through Break Through Tech. These short, paid micro-internships put students in teams. They tackle real business challenges developed by employer partners.
“New Jersey’s community college students have the talent,” said Judith Spitz, founder and CEO of Break Through Tech. “Break Through Tech’s Sprinternship program gives them the opportunity to apply it — through real, employer-embedded work-based learning that signals to hiring managers what a transcript cannot.”
Gov. Mikie Sherrill called the program part of a broader effort to position the state as a leader in the AI economy. “By investing in people and institutions alike, we are making sure New Jersey is ready to lead in the industries of the future,” she said.
The initiative builds on earlier collaborations between the two organizations. This includes efforts to set up the state’s AI and machine learning apprenticeship program. The state’s community colleges serve 255,000 students.
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