Green collar job training opportunities

Community colleges in California, Maryland, and Oklahoma are preparing for training programs for green collar job opportunities.

Wed, Oct 07 2009 at 12:19 PM EST

Photo by aka Kath

As the economy teeters on the brink of a recovery (with some economists predicting a jobless recovery), green collar job training opportunities continue to pop up in communities across the nation.

Rose State College – Midwest City, OK

Rose State College offers both an environmental science and an environmental technology two-year degree program to students. In addition to the two-year environmentally focused degree programs, the community college also offers several specialized training programs through the Oklahoma Environmental Training Center (OETC).

Upcoming classes include:

D Level Water Operator Certification – November 10-11 and December 15-16 in Midwest City and December 1-2 at Tulsa Community College
D Level Wastewater Operator Certification – November 12-13 and December 17-18 in Midwest City and December 3-4 at Tulsa Community College
C Level Water Operator Certification – November 17-18 in Midwest City
C Level Wastewater Operator Certification – November 19-20 in Midwest City
C Level Water Lab Operator Certification – December 1-4 in Midwest City
A/B Advanced Water Operator Certification – November 3-6 in Midwest City
A/B Advanced Wastewater Operator Certification – December 15-18 in Midwest City and October 13-16 it Tulsa Community College

For more information in the certification programs offered by the OETC at Rose State College, contact Bill Clark at (405) 733-7488

San Bernardino Community College District - California

The San Bernardino Community College District, including San Bernardino Valley College, Chaffey college, and San Bernardino College, is expecting approximately $870,000 in recovery money to create new green jobs training programs.

As is the case with much of the recovery funding dedicated to green jobs training, “at least one-third of the training program's participants have to be "impoverished, chronically unemployed, underrepresented, ex-offenders and residents without a GED or high school diploma," according to the grant requirements.“ Source: The Sun

The current plan is to have four different educational tracks available to students in the coming year: building retrofits, energy efficiency, home energy audits, and solar installation.

Various Community Colleges – Maryland

The Baltimore Sun is reporting that thirteen different community colleges in Maryland will begin offering home energy analysis training this month. The courses will include information on energy efficiency, weatherization, energy audits, and other topics important to the green collar job industry.

Information about the green jobs training opportunities in Maryland can be obtained by calling (443) 840-5059.

Community colleges, with their lower tuition rates and local availability, have played a major part of the green collar job revolution here in the United States. As Recovery Act funding continues to make its way to the streets, we are likely to consider seeing new green job training opportunities are community colleges across the nation.