Community Engagement

San Diego Miramar College’s Workforce Development Response to New Climate Regulations

The integration of energy and air quality regulations is critical in California to limit greenhouse gas emissions. However, despite the agreed upon need to foster cleaner air quality, the South Coast Air Quality Management District and various regional transit, wastehauler, and trucking companies faced a key challenge in keeping new advanced fuel and technology vehicles on the road. The problem: because technicians at these companies did not have the full skill set to maintain or repair its vehicles, vehicle down time was significant resulting in less-than-desired emission improvements.

San Diego Miramar College (SDMC) (CA), as part of California Community College’s Advanced Transportation Technology and Energy Initiative (ATTE), responded. The ATTE Center at SDMC worked with both governmental agencies and industry members to spearhead a comprehensive approach:

• In the immediate term, the ATTE Center in partnership with other five other community colleges implemented a four-day incumbent worker training program that introduces existing technicians to natural gas technologies and diagnosing and inspecting hybrid vehicles.

• To address the longer-term talent pipeline issues, SDMC is managing a program to train faculty at colleges across southern California to develop curriculum for their own programs. The emphasis is on enhancing colleges’ existing programs (e.g. in heavy duty or diesel technology) to include natural gas as part of their curriculum.

In just a short time, 150 workers have already been trained with many more planned as both programs continue to grow. The success has led to an important new partnership between the air regulatory agency, the network of ATTE community colleges, and now the Southern California Gas Company, which may open the door for additional SDMC-led training opportunities.

“Just having a relationship with the air regulatory agency and the state Energy Commission gave me greater insight into the challenges they were having with industry regulatory compliance,” explains Greg Newhouse, SDMC Associate Dean. “When I realized the policy problem was tied to workforce development we were able to use our industry and agency contacts and learn from employers regarding their specific training requirements. Now, workers across the region are getting updated skills, new students will get jobs, and the intention of the policy will be met: California will have more alternative vehicles on the road and ultimately cleaner air.”

- Story Pulled from the SEED Policy Action Plan

Contact:
Greg Newhouse
San Diego Miramar College
10440 Black Mountain Rd., San Diego, CA 92126
Phone: (619) 388-7673
Fax: (619) 388-7905
Email: gnewhous@sdccd.edu