82.1 F
San Fernando
Friday, Mar 29, 2024

College Program To Train Hundreds Of Local Workers

Thanks to securing $470,000 from the California Employment Training Panel, the College of the Canyons Employee Training Institute will train as many as 580 workers from area businesses over the next two years. Training will take place either at company worksites or at COC facilities and will be given in numerous areas, such as management, language and math skills. “We do training in computer-assisted design and manufacturing,” ETI director Kristin Houser said. “Those are two programs we do a lot of training in.” Other courses include inventory control, welding and supply chain management. Houser declined to state which companies COC will provide training to due to concerns over confidentiality but said that the 40 to 60 businesses participating are mainly in aerospace and manufacturing. Some of the businesses are also in the service sector. Bruce Getzan, COC dean of economic development, believes that the funds the college has received will not only allow it to serve businesses but the employment needs of the entire region. “Our unique partnerships with industry helps the college anticipate workforce training demands and leverage the resources needed to meet the economic development goals of our community,” Getzan remarked. “We value the support of local business leaders who look to College of the Canyons to be their provider of choice for workforce development programs.” History of training The college has a history of working with businesses to provide training. Since 1989 COC’s Employee Training Institute has offered such instruction. Moreover, the recent funding the college secured marks the ninth contract for employee training COC has landed since 1997. To obtain the funding, COC had to disclose how many employees it expected to train and for how many hours it planned to train those employees. Due to the State of California’s budgetary problems, however, this year it took COC longer to secure funding for the program that it has taken previously. COC put in an application for funding in late June and received approval for the funding in October. The college had hoped to be approved for funding in August. Nevertheless, COC has already put the latest round of funding to use by offering a range of courses, including one that focuses on supervisory skills, according to Houser. The Employment Training Panel determines which business are eligible to receive the training COC provides, but the college’s ETI staff are on hand to help local companies determine if they’re eligible for the state-funded training. Company size and specialty are all factors. “If it’s a big business, they (the state) pay at a lower rate,” Houser said. That’s because the state is keen on providing training to businesses with 100 employees or fewer. The state also accounts for the services provided by businesses. Manufacturing companies, for example, are considered priority businesses, a plus for COC since many of the business it works with are in that sector.

Featured Articles

Related Articles