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.
