How "Wanted: Green talent" caught my eye

"Wanted: Green talent" is what I read on my phone the other day when I was looking at the headlines on SFGate, the San Francisco Chronicle's online website. Truth be told, I was in a meeting and should not have been "checking out" during the meeting and "checking in" to the internet, but I'm glad I did.

David Bank, a vice president at San Francisco's Civic Ventures, was right on target when he wrote in his open forum about the need for workers who can help energy companies and other green industries. There just aren't enough trained people to fill the available jobs. At the same time, however, having the right kind of training programs are still not as widespread or as standardized as they need to be. And, demand is lower than it needs to be to drive these industries to even greater growth than in the recent past.

http://tinyurl.com/yckon47

While Mr. Bank mentioned some nonprofits and government initiatives to help with all of the above, he left out an important piece in how we will find the trained workers needed to help green industries thrive: community colleges, our nation's training institutions.

Within a day of this opinion piece appearing on SFGate, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had a equally compelling headline: "Some businesses having a difficult time filling 'green' jobs". Again, no mention of community colleges, though technical colleges appear in the article.
http://www.jsonline.com/business/89312337.html#comments

The article developed from the release of a new report by...COWS. Not the kind that moo, but the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. http://www.cows.org/ The report, "Greener Skills: How Credentials Create Value in the Clean Energy Economy", http://tinyurl.com/y3sb2hy follows an earlier report released two years ago. "Greener Pathways: Jobs and Workforce Development in the Clean Energy Economy".

One important conclusion in the just released report cautions community colleges as they seek to develop programs to train students for green jobs: "Community colleges, for example, shouldn’t simply rush to start their own “green jobs” programs (though many already have,
with offerings that range from important and critical to redundant and ridiculous). While opening a new program may offer a press opportunity and prove your campus is on the green edge, in fact the ways that all schools manage to integrate the green content into existing programs, and the resources they save by doing so in consistent and industry-defined ways are
likely to prove both more important and sustainable."

How does all of this relate to City College? At our January 2009 meeting, the Board of Trustees approved Resolution S7, "Directive to Create Major Green Training Programs and Establish a Green Jobs Industry Advisory Group" http://www.ccsf.edu/Offices/VCFA/January_2009_agenda_items.htm

Two months later, at our March 2009 meeting, our Board passed two related resolutions, "Creation of City College of San Francisco Bridge to Green Jobs Program" (Resolution S1) and "Resolution supporting the creation of a City College Bridge to Green Jobs Policy" (Resolution S2). Both resolutions can be found at http://www.ccsf.edu/Offices/VCFA/March_2009_agenda_items.htm

Vice-President John Rizzo took the lead in convening a Green Industry Advisory Task Force in 2009, and chaired several meetings to discuss how the College might grow how it trains students for careers in green industries. As the College continues to develop Phase 2 of the Sustainability Plan through which curricular elements of sustainability will be laid out and with all of the recent research that analyzes the effectiveness of existing programs and proposes changes for improved training programs, now would be a great time for the College to report back to the Board on the status of all of the resolutions noted above. And, of course, to demonstrate how City College will be a leader in training San Franciscans for "green" jobs.

Lost opportunities for achievement

One of the myths about a place like City College of San Francisco is that students graduate from high school, spend two years at City College in preparation to transfer to a four-year institution, and then complete their bachelor's degree in the next two years at San Francisco State University. While that may be true for some students in California's community colleges, the unfortunate reality is that many students spend far more time at a community college, some as many as 5 years before transferring.

A number of factors contribute to a lengthier stay at a community college including needing to work to earn enough income, having family responsibilities that take up time, and being unable to register for every class in a timely way due to reductions in class offerings.

All community colleges have financial aid offices and use colleges websites to inform students about financial aid opportunities (see City College's Financial Aid Office's webpage at http://tinyurl.com/yjx5zs4); however, students have other resources where they can access financial aid, including these two websites
http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/and http://www.icanaffordcollege.com/

Given President Obama's recognition of community colleges as a major economic force in this country, the whole debate about how to make community college more affordable has become a topic of increasing coverage in the press. Just today, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a story entitled, "Community college students miss out on student aid" detailing how far too many students do not take advantage of all of the financial aid opportunities that they could. http://tinyurl.com/y9akd3j (The article resulted from the release of a report from the Project on Student Debt (an initiative of the Institute for College Access & Success) on lost student aid opportunities http://ticas.org/pub_view.php?idx=583 and http://projectonstudentdebt.org/pub_view.php?idx=584

I found another report, this one from the California Public Interest Research Group (known as CALPIRG), that look at the economic demand on most community college students to work while attending school. The report noted that 80% of community college students work an average of 32 hours per week, and that students who had jobs on top of their course work do not do as well as students who have fewer obligations outside of the classroom. While the report (Working Too Hard to Make the Grade) acknowledge that students who have jobs requiring fewer hours per week actually have a higher retention rate, the unfortunate reality is that too many community college students have a much lower level of academic achievement than they would if they could reduce their work hours and depend more on financial aid. http://tinyurl.com/yabaqtk

As I write this, the House of Representatives is considering health care reform legislation, a major legislative undertaking. In the effort to win over some Democrats who have not yet committed to supporting health care reform, the reconciliation process in the House has now attached reforms to student financial aid to the bill. While the past few days have brought significant hope to community college advocates that college could become more affordable, a late story tonight reported that the reforms have been scaled back. http://tinyurl.com/yef8vlh

During a time in education with a heavy focus on accountability and standards -- sometimes using terms like "student success" and "student learning outcomes" -- finding ways to make college as affordable as possible for as many students as possible will increase the ability of community colleges to improve lives not only of their students, but of their families as well.

Keeping my word

During all San Francisco elections, candidates seeking organizational endorsements are required to fill out (sometimes lengthy) questionnaires prior to being interviewed. One of these I completed recently was from the San Francisco Women's Political Committee. I am pleased to have received the SFWPC Endorsements Committee's recommendation (thanks to them for their continuing confidence in me), and look forward to being endorsed by the full membership.

I wanted to share some of the SFWPC's questions as well as my answers. You will note that I pledged to ask the Chancellor for information on a number of these, and plan to make these requests both in writing and at our College Board meeting on August 28th.

****************

1. Do you support raising wages so that all San Francisco workers can meet their family’s basic needs with one full-time job? If you support this concept, what will you do to advance sustainable wages for all workers?

No one should have to work more than one full-time job to support a family’s basic needs. I cannot say for certain if there are any employees at City College who have to work more than one job; however, I will ask the Chancellor to report to the Board on this to see if we need to adopt a policy directing the District to raise all employees to the level where their City College job is sufficient to support a family.

2. According to current federal comparative statistics, females make $0.85 to the dollar for a man in a comparable position. Do you support the concept of pay equity in the workplace for comparable work? If you support this concept, what will you do to advance pay equity in the workplace?

I can think of no justification for not having comparable pay for everyone. It is amazing to me that women still make less than men; the only thing less acceptable than that fact is the realization that we allow this disparity to continue to exist. We have the power to change this!

As a Trustee at City College, I will ask for an analysis of pay at the College to see if this disparity exists there. Once we have this information, I will then be able to act to establish policies to make any corrections that we need. Hopefully, the situation at City College will be better than in society at large.

3. What should the role of the government be in expanding quality, accessible childcare, early education and elder care resources?

Given the evidence of the importance of pre-school, the demand for childcare, and the growing need for elder care as the population ages, the role of government should be to guarantee all of these things at a reasonable rate and in an accessible way. City College has an excellent reputation for child development programs, though I am not certain how much wait there is for spots to open. I will find out how the College manages demand for child development programs for its students as well as for people who work at the College, and I will propose a Board policy requiring the District to provide child development services for anyone at the College who desires it.

4. What will you do to help eliminate sexual harassment and sexual discrimination in the workplace and society in general?

I will seek the support of my colleagues on the College Board in requiring an annual report on sexual harassment and sexual discrimination complaints to make certain that laws and policies against both of these are being handled properly. That includes requiring that the offices charged with investigating complaints and recommending action against anyone found guilty of breaking the law or violating District policies is seen as properly trained to handle these complaints and competent in carrying out its duties. If people feel that their complaints will not be handled properly, they will refrain from filing them. The Board need to send a strong signal that it will not stand for inappropriate actions and that it will demand that the College take action to punish those who violate standards.

ESL students at City College

Yesterday, I met with two English as a Second Language students who came to the United States from China six months ago. Both Ada and Hannah, their American names that they used with me, come from Guandong.

While we needed a great deal of help to have our conversation -- fortunately their ESL teacher was there, too -- it is clear that both of them are eager to learn English. We went through some of the exercises they did in class: their names, addresses, and the date. I was taught to say the date in Mandarin.

ESL is an enormously important part of what City College does. It represents the entry point into American society for many people coming to San Francisco. Command of English, even in a city like San Francisco with large communities of foreign-born and foreign-language proficient people, is essential for getting good jobs and integrating into our city. Ada and Hannah are determined to learn English, and are grateful that City College offers so many ESL classes.

At a recent Board meeting where we approved the final design for the Chinatown/North Beach Campus, one person spoke to us about the importance of ESL. He said that ESL is the best anti-poverty program. I hadn't made that connection before, but I see the wisdom in that.

While we often say that City College is a great place to study, we may not remember that many students at City College first need to learn English before they can take other vocational or academic classes that can lead to a productive career. Without the vibrant ESL program, approximately 40% of the classes offered by City College, large numbers of students will not be able to access the quality education that City College offers.

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.

Transfer opportunities beyond UC and CSU

An article in the San Francisco Chronicle this past Monday on how difficult it is to be a low-income student at Stanford, revived a question that I have had since I joined this Board of Trustees: Why does City College talk almost exclusively about SF State and UC Berkeley for transfer? While those institutions are quite good and make sense for many San Franciscans, they are not the only option. In fact, they may not be the best option for everyone who wants to transfer from City College.

Experiencing life in another part of the country, finding a college that focuses on undergraduate education, and realizing the possibilities that a small college can provide are only some of the reasons why City College students should examine all of the opportunities available.

The article from the Chronicle (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/31/BAIMVHBG9.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea) is particularly relevant for many students at City College. Being able to afford an expensive institution like Stanford is beyond the means of a large segment of the population.

The good news from Stanford and Harvard (http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1042997120071210?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews) is that both institutions have recognized that they are limiting the pool of applicants to only those who can afford the high fees that they charge. What's heartening about the news from both colleges is that they now recognize that they need to put the resources of their enormous endowments to good use in lowering or eliminating fees for deserving students. Hopefully, this will attract more City College students to consider transferring to one of these colleges.

As the article points out, however, living expenses are another cost that many students cannot afford. Wouldn't it be great if we could find a way to raise funds to help City College students who transfer to meet the costs they incur after transferring? Seems like something we should pursue with the College's Foundation.

The launch of CityCollege:SF

This is the first posting for CityCollege:SF. My goals in launching this site are: first, to encourage everyone interested in community colleges the opportunity to understand and comment on important issues facing City College of San Francisco. Second, I want to better connect the College's Board of Trustees with the students, faculty, staff, and administrators.

I invite you to check this site frequently. My hope is that I will launch a new topic weekly, and welcome broad discussion on these issues. Most often, I will also post a news article or some other document to help frame the online conversation we will have.

If you have ideas for future topics, please email me at mmarks@ccsf.edu.

The first article I want to share with you is from Inside Higher Ed. It addresses the issue of remedial education, focusing on the programs supported by the Hewlett Foundation. City College is one of Hewlett's grantees.

Please take a look at "Rethinking Remedial Education" by clinking on the following link, and post a comment, question, or reply to get our conversation going.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/01/29/california

Thanks.

Milton Marks