Ivanka Trump, special assistant to the president, praised Toyota’s innovative efforts to train Kentuckians with the technical and vocational skills need in a rapidly changing industry.
Trump was in Georgetown Thursday to witness the signing of “America’s Pledge To Workers” by Chief Executive Officer of Toyota Motor North America, Jim Lentz.
Lentz signed his pledge to train 100,000 workers at a table on the plan floor surrounded by employees, many in red shirts, just a few feet from where new cars were rolling off the line.
A few minutes later during a roundtable discussion, Trump announced she’d pulled him aside to ask for a larger commitment.
“I said, you know what, can we increase that just a little bit, by just a little bit and he said, how about 200,000?”
During the roundtable discussion Trump said Americans tend to think of a four-year university as the only path to a promising career. But more and more companies like Toyota are seeing the value in helping to train people for the high-tech jobs needed in manufacturing.
Trump, the daughter of President Donald Trump, also says she hopes to see Pell Grant money applied to the cost of technical and vocational training.
She spent about two hours at the Scott County plant which employs 8,000 workers. This is Ivanka Trump’s second visit to Kentucky in about six months. Her father also held a presidential rally at Eastern Kentucky University last October.?
