Job Training

This year, Darlin Velasco found herself in a situation that nearly every high school student experiences as graduation draws near: weighing numerous future career pathways and post-graduation options. Darlin knew she was interested in a career in engineering, but still felt apprehensive about her future.

I am an aerospace engineering graduate from the University of Southern California. My passion for renewables introduced me to GRID Alternatives and the awesome mission it strives toward.

Guest Blogger Anandi Gandhi: I joined GRID as an intern, part of their solar installation/construction team at the Inland Empire office in Southern California. I find that it is important to mention that I am a woman of color since it directly ties into my experience of the world, and GRID's goals.

In October 2015, Tracy Woodburn and his wife picked up their life and moved to the Inland Empire. “My wife was originally from Upland, CA so when we were thinking about our next adventure, we thought we should relocate to an area where we know people and have family nearby,” Tracy said. As he considered his next career move, the reality of Southern California air quality began to impact his job seeking decisions.

Meet Dominic and Keon, new GRID Alternatives Mid-Atlantic construction employees. Their very first introduction to solar was this summer, through a job training program. “If you asked me and Dom the first day, ‘give me the bandsaw,’ I’d be like ‘what? Is that an instrument or something?’” said Keon.

It’s the end of year again, and 2017 is right around the corner! Throughout 2016 we celebrated many accomplishments in the Workforce Department. We continued developing strong relationships with current partners: CET Soledad, CET San Jose, Rancho Cielo, Student Clubs from Cal Poly, and CET Santa Maria. We were also able to collaborate and establish partnerships with new organizations CET Salinas, Central Valley Opportunity Center in Winton, Turning Point Central California, and Youth Ambassadors.

Be part of Giving Tuesday, a global day of giving.

The world as we know it is changing. Deficiencies in our prior practices reflected by climate change and discernible in the communities affected by these changes are inspiring a major global revision. Power plants are going down and solar fields are on the rise as we launch this world wide transformation to clean energy.

“There are endless possibilities with solar careers,” said Andrea Luecke with the Solar Foundation, “sales, finance, permitting, policy, web development, market research, project development, installation…..” The list goes on and on. Job fair attendees discovered this when they attended the Solar Focus Job Fair on November 17th, at the Downtown Renaissance Hotel in Washington DC.