Members of CPA’s Community Advisory Committee (CAC) recently toured the downtown office of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), a premiere network access program for early-stage startups in Southern California with a focus on working with students and local organizations to develop skilled workers for an inclusive green economy.
Aligned with CPA’s commitment to invest in skills training to prepare the local workforce for green jobs, CPA has dedicated over $1 million in funding to support training programs over the past four years, including funding for microgrid maintenance at LACI and smart building cyber security training at the Los Angeles Electrical Training Institute and the Ventura County Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee program in Ventura County.
Neil Fromer, the CAC Committee Chair, believes that this is exactly the kind of community focused initiative CPA should support and help expand.
“As members of the CAC, we spend a lot of time thinking about ways that CPA can not only provide renewable electricity, but also how we can commit to building programs that support the emerging workforce needs of our communities,” said Fromer. “This is a great opportunity to visit a partner like LACI, that’s developing key green economy programs that we can help advance, and that directly gives back to our region while paving the way for the renewable workers of tomorrow.”
LACI’s Green Jobs Fellowship Program supports underserved communities with classroom education, hands-on, in-field training, and paid internships in the cleantech space, and their green jobs programs provide a unique opportunity for students to acquire new abilities or to apply existing academic and vocational training to a new career in renewable technologies.
LACI’s 6-8 week microgrid maintenance training provides participants with skills to monitor and maintain microgrid systems. Select participants are matched with LACI startups and partners for internships and potential job opportunities.
As customer advocates, the CAC ensures diverse customer voices from across CPA’s service area are consistently represented in overall decision-making while fostering avenues for both feedback and support for community initiatives.
The CAC visit included a tour of LACI’s facilities along with an educational overview of the workforce development partnership between LACI and CPA. The facility houses numerous LACI programs, including programs focused on green workforce training, expanding the number of women in clean technology programs, as well as a microgrid (battery + storage) training programs.
Genaro Bugarin, CAC Vice Chair for Los Angeles County, said he was impressed with LACI’s facility and looked forward to working with fellow CAC members to help the program grow.
“Touring this amazing facility highlights the strength of this workforce development partnership between CPA and LACI, a partnership that serves as a great example of CPA connecting with communities and working to address community needs.” said Bugarin. “The CAC is proud of the progress we have made here, and we remain focused on developing programs and partnerships that ensure we really strengthen the connection between CPA and the regions we serve.”
To learn more about LACI click here.
CAC meetings are open to the public and are held the third Thursday of each month from 1:00-2:30 p.m. To view CAC meetings, visit our public meetings YouTube channel. For additional meeting details, click here.
