Building Contractors, Labor and Education Form Partnership to Build
California Construction College in San Jose
New School to Start in Fall 2009
SAN JOSE, Calif. (Business Wire EON/PRWEB ) October 23, 2008 --
A coalition of construction employers, labor and the San Jose/Evergreen
Community College District has been working for four years to develop a
solution to the construction industry’s need
for more highly trained construction managers, project engineers, job
estimators and supervisors to replace retiring Baby Boomers. The group,
operating under the imprimatur of the Santa Clara County Construction
Careers Association (S4CA), today announced the formation of the
California Construction College (CCC), which will be located on the San
José City College Campus.
The college will benefit construction workers who can fill the white
collar jobs becoming available. Many of them have been apprentices,
learning their trades from experienced workers. Some of them have
parents who wanted their children to earn a college degree instead of
working in the construction industry. The California Construction
College will award a Bachelor of Science degree, giving credit for past
work experience, and the classes will be scheduled for the convenience
of working students.
“When parents, students and educators
understand that an apprenticeship and a college degree are no longer
mutually exclusive in the construction industry, there will be less
resistance to our youth pursuing the Trades,”
said Neil Struthers, President and CEO of the Santa Clara & San Benito
Counties Building & Construction Trades Council.
California Department of Industrial Relations Director John C. Duncan
said at the announcement ceremony, “The CCC is
designed to attract both high school graduates and skilled workers who
are looking for professional careers in the construction industry and as
CTE teachers. Students continue to work in their professions and earn a
living while learning the skills necessary to reach their individual
career goals. The CCC also plays an important role in meeting the
governor’s job creation and infrastructure
rebuilding priorities.”
There is an ongoing concern that contractors from other states and even
other countries will profit from the huge volume of work generated from
billions of dollars in infrastructure bonds for the construction of
schools, medical centers, nursing facilities, and other buildings in
California. With highly trained mid-managers graduating from the CCC,
local and California based contractors will be able to expand their
business management from within their own companies and those
construction jobs will go to California-based companies, keeping jobs
and tax revenues in the state.
“The California Construction College will also
train senior construction workers so they are qualified to teach Career
Technical Education (CTE) at college and high school level,”
said Rosa Pérez, Chancellor of the San José/Evergreen
Community College District. “We’ve
learned that being a software engineer isn’t
the most stable job. Coding and development can always be outsourced.
Construction work is site-specific, and CCC will ensure that those jobs
remain here in the Silicon Valley.”
“For contractors, this college gives us the
opportunity to attract more quality workers into our craft and also have
current valuable field experienced personnel gain additional training
that could result in them developing into future management staff,”
said Tony Mirenda, CEO of TBI Construction and Construction Management
as well as co-chair of S4CA. “The students at
CCC must have completed high school to be admitted, and this will
discourage students from joining the already large population of
dropouts in California. As in other professions, the people who are the
most motivated to learn and succeed do so, and the graduates from CCC
will be in high demand.”
See the original story at: http://eon.businesswire.com/releases/california_construction/construction_college/prweb1517284.htm
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