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Southland Gets Boost To Train A Climate-Ready Workforce
Workers install solar panels at the Port of Los Angeles.
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Topline:
Long Beach City College will receive $9.5 million in federal funds to lead an effort to boost climate resilience job training, particularly in the solar and water management industries.
More details: The funding is part of a total of $60 million going to nine states via the Biden Administration's Inflation Reduction Act. LBCC’s funding will establish the L.A. County Climate Ready Employment Council, which will bring together public, private, nonprofit, and tribal groups to develop job training and opportunities that support climate resiliency. The council aims to prioritize trainees from underserved communities.
Why it matters: The climate crisis is not only changing our weather norms, it’s also shifting the job market. Community colleges are leading the effort to train the next generation of workers needed as we shift to an all-electric economy and face increasingly extreme heat, fire and flood. That’s important because we need more good-paying jobs to support growing infrastructure challenges, disaster response needs and climate resilience efforts.
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What’s next: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association plans to disperse the funds by August, and the program will launch six to nine months after that.
Other climate job opportunities: The L.A. Conservation Corps trains young people in environmental jobs during a paid fellowship for at least a year. The L.A. Cleantech Incubator also offers green job training programs (read our 2022 profiles of some participants here). The California Climate Corps is accepting job applications from people 18 and over for an 11-month fellowship. And the Biden Administration recently launched the American Climate Corps, which is currently accepting applications.
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