CLW Enterprises Pursues High Road Training Resilient Workforce Program Proposal

The California Workforce Development Board (CWDB) is pleased to announce a rolling fund to advance a field of practice that simultaneously addresses urgent questions of income inequality, economic competitiveness, and climate change through regional skills strategies designed to support economically and environmentally resilient communities across the state.

The CWDB understands long-term, low-wage work is a significant problem for the future of California and seeks to build systems to promote access and advancement to better-paying jobs. This initiative will continue to tackle this issue by focusing on industry as an organizing principle, and building partnerships that develop skills employers need in ways that secure stronger economic opportunities for low-income workers.

Investments in a skilled workforce promote energy, water, and fuel efficiency, build and capture the value of low-carbon technology, and support healthy, economically resilient communities. This requires intentional, strategic, workforce development driven by collaborative regional training partnerships serving multiple employers in key industries.

Training Program Proposal by Corey Lee Wilson

INTRODUCTORY COURSE TO CALIFORNIA BUILDING, ENERGY & SUSTAINABILITY SYSTEMS’ HIGH-TECH CAREER PATHWAYS

Upon review of the request for application, CLW Enterprises' program proposal appears to meet workforce development requirements for the four groups most impacted by pandemic job losses—women, younger workers, less educated workers, and Latino workers—and the four are not mutually exclusive.

This program is long-term, non-traditional and educates, promotes and energizes an emerging workforce demographic interested in the following skilled industry sectors in high demand:

• Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) Designers and Installers

• Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

• Electrical Utility Installers and Repairers

• Electricians

• Electric Vehicle Mechanics

• Facility and Operations Managers

• Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration (HVACR) Mechanics and Installers

• Solar and Wind Power Systems Installers

This pre-apprenticeship program is designed at the K12 and K14 levels as the first step in creating interest and enthusiasm for these highly skilled and technical occupations critical for California’s economic and environmental success, as well as energizing the labor workforce pool necessary to prime the existing and/or new apprenticeship pipelines.

The program also educates students and incumbent workers about these high-tech professions; shows them the available career paths throughout California to get there, and how investing in their future meets their financial goals.

Finally, the introductory program shows how future training investments can deliver the skills required to perform these high-quality jobs and broaden access for all workers that in turn will help California meet its zero net energy (ZNE) goas by 2045. It also provides recommendations on the transition for workers in declining and non-renewable energy sectors to renewable and sustaining ones.