Building Contractors, Labor and Education Form Partnership to Build California Construction...

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)--
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 Jose 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 Perez,
Chancellor of the San Jose/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."

PRx
Pam Kelly, 408-483-2410
or
Dean Fryer, 415-703-5066

Copyright Business Wire 2008