Green jobs training grant coming to San Bernardino County
"We're still ironing out the details," said Kevin Fleming, director of the San Bernardino Community College District's Center of Excellence. "It's an 18-month grant duration, but I haven't received any official word on when it starts."
The district will coordinate the grant, and with the help of the county and other organizations, San Bernardino Valley College in San Bernardino and Chaffey College in Ranch Cucamonga will train qualified residents for job placement, internships or further education.
Besides the local college district, more than 30 other college districts, colleges, agencies, cities and trade schools up and down California received $27million in what Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday is the largest state-sponsored green jobs training program in the nation.
At least one-third of the training program's participants have to be "impoverished, chronically unemployed, underrepresented, ex-offenders and residents without a GED or high school diploma," according to the grant requirements.
"The goal is to take the folks that don't have a high school diploma or are unemployed, and who don't have any path, and give them a path where they can earn, learn and work their way up," Fleming said. Classes will be offered in 2010 toprepare participants in one of four green occupations:
Retrofitting specialist, which assesses and recommends how commercial buildings can become more energy efficient.
Home energy auditor, which examines home energy use and suggests energy-efficient upgrades.
Solar installer, which installs solar panels.
Energy efficiency manager, which takes a bird's-eye view at how companies can become more energy-efficient.
As to whether local employers will create green jobs by mid-2010, "nobody can really say," said Bonnie Montoya-May, chairwoman of the Inland Empire chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council.
"We're hoping some of this training will spark entrepreneurial efforts throughout our business and buildings community," she said.
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