SCE Initiative to Benefit Colleges

Posted: 01/11/2010

Southern California Edison has launched a $1 million green jobs education initiative to fund sustainable or “green” education and job training at 10 California community colleges, solidifying a commitment to its core philanthropic priorities – education and the environment.

“The Green Jobs Education Initiative holds the triple crown in our philanthropic portfolio,” said SCE President John R. Fielder. “It will support education programs for college students, encourage environmental sustainability efforts and prepare skilled employees for the growing green jobs workforce.”

SCE will provide $100,000 to each of 10 selected colleges. Each college can then invest these funds in the California Community College Scholarship Endowment to receive an additional $50,000 match from the endowment’s lead benefactor, The Bernard Osher Foundation.

As a result, this match to SCE’s gift will total $500,000 and be put to work supporting community college students in need across the state.

The schools are Cerritos College, Norwalk; Cerro Coso Community College, Ridgecrest; El Camino College, Torrance; Golden West College, Huntington Beach; Long Beach City College, Long Beach; Los Angeles Southwest College, Los Angeles; Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, Los Angeles; Rio Hondo College, Whittier; San Bernardino Valley College, San Bernardino; and Ventura College, Ventura.

This overarching goal will be accomplished through the Initiative for Intercollegiate Innovation (I³) comprised of three primary objectives: (1) research key elements of the green workforce development and the transformational model processes, as well as, the resulting programs that render them “best practices”; (2) develop and package green workforce development and innovation materials and disseminate to other community colleges using multiple mediums; and (3) conduct professional development and technical assistance activities with other community colleges to facilitate their adoption of these best practices —particularly among the colleges comprising the Los Angeles Community College District.

In addition, through the leadership and funding of the Kregse Foundation, Trade-Tech will be collaborating with the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) on their nationwide “Building a Green Workforce: Charting a Course for Community Colleges” Program.

In awarding the grant, the Kresge Foundation noted they were “very impressed with LATTC’s leadership in green workforce development”.

The $24.5 million grant will, over the next five years, provide funding for the establishment of a Center for Energy Efficient Electronics Science, which would increase education and research on power-saving technologies. The research could potentially reduce energy consumption by a factor of a million, according to Eli Yablonovitch, a professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences and director of the center.

He said research will be focused on developing more efficient transistors-the devices that turn electrical circuits on and off-which would require less than one volt to operate in contrast to current transistors.

“We argued that it was actually possible, it didn’t violate any (scientific) laws and that we could potentially reduce the voltage to millivolts,” Yablonovitch said.

According to the statement, the center will be composed of 19 faculty members, 11 of which are from UC Berkeley.

Other campuses involved in the center are the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Contra Costa College, Los Angeles Trade-Technical College and the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

According to Yablonovitch, the grant was one of five distributed by the foundation to fund Science and Technology Centers. He said the foundation only issues this type of grant every four years.

(Source:  Mihir Zaveri, The Daily Californian)

Trade-Tech’s role in the grant and Center is to provide pathways from our Construction Design and Manufacturing Department, Electronics, as well as our evolving energy efficiency programs for students to pursue BA/BS and graduate work in these related fields.  As a partnering institution, Trade-Tech will have access to a transferable UC Berkeley course as well as student Summer Bridge Research experience (4-6) and faculty exchanges.

JFLA recently launched the fund at an exclusive event held at a private home in Brentwood. Featured speakers included Ed Begley, Jr., actor and activist and a key player in developing the fund guidelines, and David Nahai, Senior Advisor to the Clinton Climate Initiative. The event helped raise seed money for the fund so that JFLA can begin offering loans to Los Angeles County residents. JFLA hopes to raise an additional $3 million over the next year to augment the fund.

Loans of up to $5,000 will be made available to qualifying borrowers who have participated in a home energy audit. A home energy audit is the first step to assess how much energy homes and small businesses consume, and to evaluate what measures can be taken to make a home or small business more energy efficient. An audit will indicate problems that may, when corrected, reduce energy bills by as much as hundreds of dollars annually, saving significant amounts of money over time. The efficiency of a home or small business’ heating and cooling systems and methods to conserve water and electricity can also be determined during the audit. JFLA has partnered with L.A. Trade Tech to administer the audits free of charge.

The Jewish Free Loan Association is a nonprofit agency offering assistance to people of all faiths facing financial challenges. For over 100 years, JFLA has provided a helping hand instead of a handout to hundreds of thousands of people through interest-free loans for emergencies, education, developing small businesses, healthcare and life cycle events. The assistance JFLA provides is unique, offering cash in hand to promote self-sufficiency with dignity. For more information on qualifications and procedures, visit the JFLA web site at www.jfla.org : or call (323)761-8830.

(Source:  Elana Vorspan)

This partnership will enable Trade-Tech students, in the energy efficiency and energy auditing educational programs, to garner work experience with “real-world” energy audits.

CRCD and Trade-Tech will engage in the following capacity building activities:

1. Expand the South LA YouthBuild Program’s Career Exploration curriculum to include information about green industry jobs such as green construction, energy efficiency, and weatherization;
2. Provide professional development for 6 LATTC faculty members to attain a Green Module certification from the National Center for Construction Education & Research (NCCER), which will enable faculty to teach and certify students in the NCCER Green Module;
3. Enhance and augment the South LA YouthBuild Program’s core construction curriculum to include training in green building techniques with a focus on green construction, energy efficiency, and weatherization; and
4. Develop a Green Jobs Pathway, which will serve as a career ladder pipeline to help YouthBuild graduates transition to LATTC’s Solar, Weatherization and Energy Efficiency Certificate Programs, or Green Construction Certificate or Degree Programs.

Funding for this Initiative comes from the Department of Labor Green Capacity Building Grants, as authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 totaling $5.8 million, to offer training opportunities to help individuals acquire jobs in expanding green industries. These grants are targeted to help serve underserved communities.

The Green Jobs Training Initiative is funded by a $100,000, 12 month grant from the Department of Labor. The Coalition for Responsible Community Development, a community development corporation in the Vernon-Central neighborhood of South Los Angeles, serves as the fiscal lead for the grant.

Hsu, Tiffany.  (November 15, 2009).  So you want a green career? The giant push for eco-friendly practices has created job opportunities for those with little or no experience.  Los Angeles Times.  The article may be accessed on latimes.com at the following address:  http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cover-greenjobs15-2009nov15,0,4846377.story

Anderson, Siri. (October 28, 2009).  Green Works: Low-cost training for a green job.  Payscale.com. This article may be accessed on payscale.com at the following address:  http://blogs.payscale.com/content/2009/10/training-for-green-job.html

The Los Angeles Trade Technical College Clean Energy  Pre-Apprenticeship (CEPA) Program will serve the Greater Los Angeles Region.   A collaborative partnership which includes Los Angeles Trade Technical College (the project lead), Los Angeles Community College District, the LA County Workforce Investment Board, the Los Angeles City Workforce Investment Board and a myriad of public and private employers.  CEPA provides training for program participants that leads toward a solid foundation in renewable energy principles, utility technology–including distribution fundamentals and installation of utility-scale solar energy. The program also includes classroom and hands-on training that provides new workforce entrants, and unemployed or underemployed workers, with knowledge and job skills in a variety of broad-based renewable energy fields, with a specific focus on solar/pv installation and electrical distribution. 

LATTC will serve 150 people through the CEPA training program.  The target population for CEPA is low income adults, who are currently unemployed or underemployed who live in the Greater Los Angeles area.  Individuals for this program do not need any prior experience in the energy or construction fields.  Since the program will address some basics skills deficits, they will not necessarily need a GED or high school diploma.  Special efforts will be made to outreach to groups who are at-risk and have the most challenges in finding employment including emancipated foster youth (ages 18 – 21), previously incarcerated individuals, returning veterans, and other at risk populations.  An innovative aspect of the program is the active effort we will put forth to recruit women into the energy and electrical distribution fields.

LATTC, LACCD, and The Los Angeles County and Los Angeles City WIB–through its WorkSource Centers and One Stop Centers–will recruit, screen and orient the trainees.  Intake and orientation at the WorkSource/One-Stop Centers will include an initial assessment of skill levels, aptitudes, abilities and support services needs.   Clients in need of wrap around services will be referred to community based organizations affiliated with LATTC and the WIBs to address their needs. 

The LATTC CEPA will focus on a broad spectrum of clean energy principles and careers, as well as basic skills and work readiness skills that are needed in the energy and utility fields.  We have chosen to focus more in-depth training on the solar/pv and electrical distribution careers.  All of the training was developed with input from public or investor owned utility companies, as well as other employers.   All trainees who enroll in CEPA will complete modules in Clean Energy Career Exploration, Work Readiness, Contextualized Basic Skills, and Sustainability and Clean Energy Concepts.  They will then choose one of two career pathways for more intensive training – Solar/PV Installation and Maintenance or Electrical Distribution/Lineworker Training.  Cohorts of 35 to 40 individuals will begin every 12 to 14 weeks during the grant period.  The intent of CEPA is to provide short-term industry-recognized training for entry-level energy professionals and is designed as a “portal” for individuals in low income areas to enter apprenticeship programs or employment.

Gillard said that when it comes to accessible “green” curriculum, Trade Tech is out in front of the world. She is also the minister of education and part of her mission is to find methods and technology to improve her country’s infrastructure. She was thoroughly impressed with Trade Tech’s vision and the integration of “green” in all career pathways. Gillard is the highest-ranking woman in Australia’s political history and yet was very at ease with our students and faculty.

For more news on the Deputy Prime Minister’s visit, refer to an article featured on LACCD Build Green website at:  http://www.laccdbuildsgreen.org/mediacenter/index.php?item=93