Community Colleges Boost Green Business Offerings

With alternative energy and sustainability practices becoming more commonplace in homes and businesses, trained practitioners in those fields are in demand. That’s where community colleges in the San Fernando Valley come into the picture. Los Angeles Valley College begins this spring a trial program to receive certification in the new Los Angeles Green Business program. In the west Valley, the economic and workforce development department at Pierce College has four new classes ranging from green tech sales techniques to photovoltaic business practices. The department has the advantage of being able to develop new programs rather quickly because they are not for credit and do not need to go through the school’s curriculum committee, said director Judith Trester. The new classes lay the groundwork for long-term plans to construct on campus a separate structure just for green tech classes. “This will be creating classes for the curriculum when we have the green tech building,” Trester said. The school’s initial class offering is in green technology sales; clean energy concepts; residential energy auditor; and introduction to photovoltaic business practices that will be taught by the owner of a solar company. The college is applying for a grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the program. An application last year in which Pierce was the lead agency with 12 partners for money for green tech job training was not successful. However, the lessons learned from that experience can be applied to the new application. “We feel comfortable we are going to get some funding to help us,” Trester said. The Los Angeles Community College District recently received a grant through the U.S. Department of Labor and Jobs for The Future that will go to Pierce, L.A. Mission College in Sylmar and two other schools for training unemployed and disadvantaged workers in efficient building, construction and retrofit, and renewable electric power The Valley College program is tied in with the new Green Business certification in the city of Los Angeles aimed at the auto repair, restaurant and office-retail business sectors. The program will provide certification to companies that meet standards of environmental sustainability related to recycling, water conservation, reduced electrical usage and providing programs that encourage employees to participate in environmental stewardship. Receiving certification benefits business owners with an edge over competitors, said Lennie Ciufo, director of job training at Valley College. “It is way of the future,” Ciufo said. “Ultimately when people do these awareness and green certification programs they are going to be on a preferred provider list.” The West Valley Occupational Center in Woodland Hills is also offering a new energy auditor class. Getting an audit is the first step to improving energy and water efficiency in a home. Becoming an energy auditor gives a valuable skill, said Kenn Phillips, vice president, workforce initiative at the Valley Economic Alliance. “The idea is taking people who are existing contractors and redevelop them into green contractors,” Phillips said. The workforce development department at Pierce also offers three new fiber optics classes to fill vacancies at Time Warner Cable and Verizon; and a certificate program done in conjunction with the San Fernando Valley chapter of APICS, an international operations management society. The certification program moves to Pierce after having been offered at California State University, Northridge for nearly 30 years. The program is made up of five courses that prepare manufacturing, distribution and purchasing employees to take certification exams, said Jim Strong, head of education for the Valley chapter. “Certification opens up job opportunities and internal promotion,” Strong said. “It is recognized as a requisite for a variety of jobs.”