Saturday, May 10, 2008

Community college training for solar panel installation

Today's SFGate has an article on how Bay Area community colleges are meeting the demand for training workers in solar panel installation.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/10/BUGD10JVGP.DTL

While one of the researchers who presented the report on training workers to meet the demand for solar panels is at City College, the article does not mention how much training is happening at City College. I will get this information for a future post.

This is further confirmation of the importance of vocational training for green jobs for City College.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Can Green Jobs Save the Middle Class?

I just found this article, though it was posted originally last November. It makes a lot of sense, though, as you'll see, not everyone agrees that green jobs will provide the answers that many of us think they will.

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/67138/

City College is in the middle of the drafting of a Sustainability Plan. Part 1 for Construction, Retrofitting, and Operations has been reviewed through the Shared Governance system, starting with the Sustainability Subcommittee of the Facilities Review Committee. Part 2 for Professional Development, Educational Programs, Student Services, and Community Partnerships continues to be developed by the Sustainability Subcommittee, and should be completed later this year.

At the request of the Board President, I am leading an ad hoc group of Trustees including John Rizzo and Rodel Rodis to review Part 1, and to report back to the full Board on our recommendations for moving this part through our approval process. I hope we will be bringing to the Board soon.

At this particularly difficult economic time with so many cuts proposed to fall disproportionately on community colleges and the students we serve, it is essential that the Board of Trustees recognize the opportunity that green jobs have for San Franciscans. As more and more of the world embraces "green" for its environmental, social, AND economic benefits, San Francisco should take a leadership role in fostering the green economy and in providing the training needed to help our students succeed.

I will be pushing this agenda, and hope others will join with me. If you agree that this is a vital role for City College, please get in touch with me.