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(January 14, 2010) -- The Los Angeles Community College District will be able to provide more training to unemployed and disadvantaged workers in "green jobs" after receiving two grants totaling nearly $6 million.
The U.S. Department of Labor awarded the District a $4 million Pathways Out of Poverty grant to train workers in careers in energy efficiency and renewable energy.
In addition, the LACCD is one of five organizations sharing in almost $8 million in Labor Department funds granted by Boston-based Jobs for the Future. The funds will provide green job training for unemployed workers in Los Angeles and four other cities.
"These funds will allow the District to provide hundreds of unemployed workers with the educational skills they will need for employment in 21st century green industries," said Marvin Martinez, LACCD Vice Chancellor, Economic and Workforce Development.
The Pathways Out of Poverty grant is part of $150 million in green jobs training funds recently awarded as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. These grants were parceled out to 38 projects in poor communities nationwide.
The District will use the Pathways grant to recruit, train and provide placement services for 925 unemployed or dislocated workers in the South Los Angeles communities of Watts, Willowbrook and Florence-Graham. Programs in the energy efficiency, weatherization and green building retrofit sectors will be offered at five LACCD colleges: L.A. Southwest College, L.A. City College, L.A. Trade-Technical College, East L.A. College and L.A. Valley College.
The LACCD, in its grant proposal, teamed with the City of Los Angeles Workforce Investment Board, the Community Development Department and the California Conservation Corps, among other agencies.
The Jobs for the Future grant will provide training in energy-efficient building, construction and retrofit, and renewable electric power for more than 1,100 unemployed and disadvantaged workers in Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia. The LACCD will use its portion of the grant, expected to be about $1.8 million, to offer training programs at West L.A. College, L.A. Harbor College, Pierce College and L.A. Mission College.
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