Verizon has launched Verizon AI Skills for America, a $70 million initiative offering free AI training to job seekers, small businesses, educators and displaced workers nationwide, alongside a $1 million grant to Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey. The program combines a $20 million fund originally created for employees leaving Verizon with a new $50 million commitment, and brings together courses from IBM, Google, Microsoft, Anthropic, Coursera and OpenAI through one online portal. Goodwill Industries International, Local Initiatives Support Corporation and the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship will provide hands-on coaching and local support. The Liberty Science Center grant will fund interactive technology education and extend Verizon’s partnership with the center, including its backing as a founding corporate sponsor of the 30-acre SciTech Scity innovation campus under development. Verizon said the initiative will launch nationwide, with more intensive services in selected regional markets, and that participant feedback will be used to refine the curriculum.