Ohlone has received nearly $400,00 in federal workforce investment funds, and more is on the way. However, other community colleges have taken greater advantage of the federal programs, including College of the Desert,which received $1,150,800 in one Workforce Investment Act (WIA) program. Ohlone apparently has courses that might qualify for that program, but did not apply. The Alameda County Workforce Investment Board has contracted to pay Ohlone College $110,000 in federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA) funds to train 30 students in Cisco computer classes next year. According to Roy Bertuccelli, workforce development specialist for the Alameda WIA board, Ohlone will also receive $55,000 to $60,000 to provide five additional computer classes. This year the WIA board also paid Ohlone $192,000 to provide workshops in job searching and career planning at the NUMMI automotive plant in Fremont. It is scheduled to close April 1, 2010. The WIA board is also paying Ohlone tuition of $2,625 per student, with a maximum of 25 students in a class for two classes in photovoltaic design and installation (ENVS 104). These classes, packed with students, were developed by Dr. Gail Carli, dean of the Health Sciences and Environmental Studies Division and are taught at the Newark Center for Health Sciences and Technology. The Alameda WIA board lists a course in biopharmaceutics, (BIO 100) on its list of Eligible Training Providers (ETP) and will pay tuition of $3,875 per student for a maximum of 25 students in a class. This course was developed by Dr. Ron Quinta, dean of the Science, Technology and Engineering Division years ago. Although the course no longer exists, a student looking at that listing can still apply for an equivalent course and try, as an individual, to obtain WIA tuition to enroll. Quinta said, “The Biomanufacturing-Biopharm class was a program we offered for several years with funding that came from the Department
of Labor in Washington, D.C. then later from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. That program (class) was specifically offered to retrain displaced workers so that they would be eligible for jobs in the biotech industry in the Bay Area.” When the funding ended, the training program was put on hold. The courses remain in the catalog, but Ohlone awaits funding from sources such as the WIB to offer the program again.
The ETP is a list of training providers in every county which are funded by the Workforce Investment Act. It is online at http:/etpl.edd.car.gov/wiaetplind.htm. According to Bertuccelli, since the Recovery and Reinvestment Act, known as the federal stimulus was enacted, a provider is no longer required to be on the list in order to receive WIA funding. WIA pays eligble students up to $5,000 for tuition. The Alameda WIA Board administers federal WIA funds in Alameda County, Contra Costa County, Richmond and Oakland. Dr. Leta Stagnaro, Associate VP of Academic Affairs, is a member of the Alameda County WIA Board and interfaces with it regarding the Newark campus. Dr. James Wright ,VP of Academic Affairs, handles the Fremont campus. According to the “Federal Stimulus Matrix (Draft) dated 9/14/09, published by the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges online (url: http://www.cccco.edu/Portals/4/Executive/Board/2009_agendas/Sep_09/Federal%20Matrix.pdf), other than the programs identified by Bertuccelli, Ohlone did not apply for any other WIA programs or other federal stimulus and federal and state agency programs which are listed. Eric Alborg, spokeman for the California Recovery Board which manages federal stimulus funds for the state, said, “I took the liberty of looking at our Web site (recovery.ca.gov) and the federal Web site (recovery.gov) and do not see any awards for Ohlone College yet I do not see any awards for Ohlone College yet.” An example of a community college which outpaced Ohlone in receiving WIA funds is San Diego Miramar Community College, which received WIA funding of $400,000 for bio-tech training programs. WIA also provided $400,000 for a solar-HVAC program to San Diego City College. WIA provided $400,000 to San Diego Mesa Community College for its mental health worker certification program. San Diego Continuing Education received $400,00 for its Certified Nursing Assistant training program. The College of the Desert received $1,150,800 ifor training programs in “industry-driving demand occupations” and $173,065 for GED preparation classes. Chabot College received $288,000 for a two-year program to work with the Alameda WIA board and its Rapid Response Team to provide Transition services for dislocated workers. Coastline Community College expects to receive a total of $207,558 to teach classes in accounting and bookkeeping, process technology and customer service sales. San Francisco City College received $214,000 for a CityBuild construction training program and Marin Community College received $106,500 for a dental assistant program. There is still more money to be awarded through the WIA and the application process is ongoing for many programs. Still open for applications are WIA grants in California of $80.9 million for adult employment and training activities, $189 million for youth activities, and $189 million for “Youthbuild” activities. The Department of Labor is providing $225 million to California
WIA boards for disclocated worker programs and applications can still be made. According to the matrix, Ohlone has not applied for these funds yet. In addition to WIA funding, the Department of Labor has directly funded $750 million in competitive grants nationwide, of which $500 million is for green jobs and $220 million is for health care sector and other high growth and emerging industries. The first of these grants of $220 million is for health care sector jobs and went so far to Riverside College ($400,000 for allied health training), to San Diego Miramar ($339 for a Medical Laboratory Technician Program), and to San Diego Mesa College ($400,000 for a radiology tech training program). Ohlone can still receive tuition for its individual courses from the WIA if eligible individuals choose Ohlone’s courses and WIA agrees to fund the individual. Ohlone lists only the course in photovoltaic design and one in biopharmaceuticals on the ETP. Ohlone potentially misses WIA-funded tuition for individual classes because it has only two classes on the list. Hundreds of colleges list many coursers on the ETP. For example, California State University East Bay has 73 courses on the ETP list, including chemical dependency studies, java programming, paralegal studies, art museum and gallery studies, human resources management and other technical subjects. According to Bertuccelli, Cabrillo College lists all of its classes on the ETP list to attract as much WIA funding as possible. The college or a professor can apply at Eastbay Works for funding for an individual course and/or for the funding of a program of courses. The application is online at http://eastbayworks.com/categories.php?id=324 The application must meet WIA criteria. The WIA focuses on four categories of persons seeking job training: (1) dislocated adult workers; (2) unemployed adult workers; (3) disabled workers; and (4) youth workers. It requires that the course have a vocational interest. According to Bertuccelli, “WIA does not fund poetry courses. Yet it will fund English as a second language course.” The WIA wants the course to fit the needs of the top “100 demand occupations” which are listed at http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/article.asp?articleId=654 Ohlone has ian office of grants development and states its policy on line in a notice entitled “Why We Wait: Not all grant projects, even those that offer large amounts of money, are worth pursuing. Almost any grant project requires some financial or other resource commitment on the part of the institution.” The district adheres to the policy of only pursuing grants that comply with our mission and goals and which fit with current activities. For the most part, grants have to bring in an amount of money substantial enough to offset costs for the district’s budget. Smaller grants require almost the same amount of work at the back end, but do not offset enough costs warrant the amount of time and of resources required for supporting the grant. All government and many of the private grants require a budget manager’s time to track costs, manage budget requests, complete reports, conduct audits plus managing the actual grant project. Because of the amount of work involved in developing budgets and developing proposals for grants that are not awarded, these considerations should all be taken into account before proceeding with a grant proposal…..See: (http://www.ohlone.edu/org/collegeadvancement/grants/whywewait.html) Contrary to Ohlone’s “wait” position, some colleges have taken the risks of providing new or updated course and programs to be eligible for WIA and other stimulus funding during this recession. For example, the Patricia Arack, editor of “City Currents,” a publication of the City College of San Francisco stated in an article entitled “Federal funds stimulate CCSF programs:” “To date CCSF has received in excess of $28 million in federal stimulus funding, helping to take some of the sting out of the severe budget cuts the college has suffered. ‘More is coming,’ said Chancellor Don Griffin on Flex Day August 14 and added, ‘Grants to the college have doubled from last year, providing some relief.“’ The risks of providing seed money for new programshas paid off for some community colleges. For example, the Green Job Corps and Green Job Pilot Program provided $10 million in federal stimulus funding and $10 million in local funding for job training and community service work in California’s emerging green economy for 1,500 at-risk youth. Awards of stimulus money went to the Workforce Institute, San Jose/Evergreen Community College District, Santa Clara ($937,873), Peralta Community College District consisting of Berkeley City College, Laney College, Merritt College and College of Alameda ($937,511), City College of San Francisco ($931,087), Shasta Community College ($650,606), Los Angeles Community College ($937,890). Even though Ohlone is in Fremont, the home of NUMMI, the federal stimulus fund provided $500,000 for hybrid car training in 2009 to Chabot and City College of San Francisco. On Nov. 19, 2009, NUMMI workers were certified to receive funding pursuant to the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program administered by the U.S. Employment and Training Administration. According to Bertuccelli, each laid-off NUMMI worker will be allowed to report to EDD and meet with a TAA specialist. After a skills assessment, the worker may look for jobs in the private sector. If a NUMMI worker cannot find a job, he or she will be provided with $10,000 in tuition money along with supplies and books. The worker can choose courses at Ohlone College. Many workers will look at the ETP list for assistance. Hopefully by that time, Ohlone will have more courses listed so that it can receive some of these funds. In addition, Ohlone can develop a program of courses which are intensive and vocational in nature and meet the needs of laid-off NUMMI workers and it can submit an application for WIA funding. Solar and technology jobs are opening up in Fremont. Solyndra, which makes solar panels, recerived $535 million in federal stimulus finds, has 3,000 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent manufacturing jobs available. On Nov. 27, the Department of Energy provided $4 million in stimulus funds to Amber Kinetics in Fremont to develop flywheel technology for low-cost bulk energy storage applications.Ohlone is in excellent position to obtain funding for courses in solar and green energy. NUMMI workers may also seek work in areas such as biotechnology, nursing and child education and may need English and mathematics courses to get up to speed in today’s job market. As Dr. Carli said, “Ohlone College will be happy to support reeducation and retraining of NUMMI employees.”
By Kathryn Dixon
Staff writer
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