BROKER

Don't Reinvent the Wheel

The members of the Manufacturing Summit assessed the possibility of bringing the training and certification programs to Contra Costa County. Los Medanos College offered its educational infrastructure to host the program, while local companies committed to providing equipment, facility space, and staff. Staff from the WDBCCC and One-Stop Centers concluded that recently displaced aircraft maintenance and other manufacturing workers had enough experience with shift-work and similar tasks to justify the development of a displaced worker training program which could be funded by a State grant. Such funds could then be used as seed money to develop the local curricula.

WDBCCC staff also identified similarities between their project and another displaced worker training program for which the San Mateo Workforce Investment Board was successful in obtaining funds. The San Mateo format was adopted and a grant for $925,000 from the State was secured to train 81 dislocated workers in jobs in the petrochemical industries. Partners in the grant included: Cemco, Dow, USSPOSCO, Tesoro, Shell, Valero, Chevron, Conoco-Phillips, Diablo Sanitation District, United Steelworkers Local 5, Ironhouse Sanitation District, Mountain View Sanitary District, Mt. Diablo Adult School, Los Medanos College, Foundation for California Community Colleges, Alameda County Workforce Investment Board, and the EASTBAY Works Contra Costa County One-Stop Operator Consortium.