New Job Training Grants Announced for West Hills College
Much needed job training on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley will become more available in the future with the announcement of the awarding of three new job training grants to West Hills College and its partners and the renewal of a grant to work with youth 14-21 to support academics, leadership development and career exploration.
Chancellor Frank Gornick announced the new grants and gave a summary of each:
- $845,000 from the Fresno County Workforce Adult/Dislocated Worker Program that will be used over the next four or five years to train workers in high-demand careers including psychiatric technician, registered nurse and maintenance mechanics. The grant stipulates that 25 veterans and 25 parolees be included in the pool of people to be trained.
- $530,000 from the Fresno county Workforce Investment Board to advance the All Youth One System services to students 14-21 years of age over the next five years. The money will be used to support academic and leadership development and career exploration for younger students and job attainment and retention and skill acquisition for older students.
- $350,000 from the California Community Colleges Systems Office to create and offer a series of three week long workshops during the next two years for about 300 people. The workshops will teach the operation of three dimensional blade and bucket heavy equipment (3D-MC) that is being employed by construction companies to meet increasing air quality standards. West Hills will partner with Topcon Positioning, a supplier of 3D-MC, to create training courses for employees and customers alike with the grant money.
- $500,000 over two years from the CCC Systems Office as part of the Workforce Development Program to train workers for high wage, high growth skills in agri-business including manufacturing and distribution logistics as well as the newly emerging technology requiring solar technicians. Clean Tech America is contracted with PG&E to start a 40-acre solar energy “farm” in Mendota and has requested the college provide solar technician training. The college will develop that training as part of the grant as well as four electrical classes. A 2006 Employment Gap Study indicated that there is a shortage of industrial electricians, truck drivers, forklift operators and industrial maintenance mechanics. Training is also planned for those careers.
Gornick said that existing resources through West Hills College Coalinga, Firebaugh and Lemoore locations and the Westside Institute of Technology in Mendota will be used for the new trainings as well as the Employment and Training Office in Kerman and the Coalinga One Stop.
For details on the training programs, contact West Hills College at 559 934-2134.
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West Hills Community College District serves the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and is part of the California Community College System. Its two colleges, West Hills College Coalinga, which includes North District Center, Firebaugh, and West Hills College Lemoore, serve more than 6,000 students on campus and online each semester.
