SRJC Construction Training Center
The Mendocino Companies have donated $100,000 to the Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) Petaluma Construction Training Center. A ceremonial groundbreaking was held on May 3, 2023, at the site of the new center in Petaluma, California.
The SRJC Petaluma Construction Training Center is projected to train hundreds of construction professionals annually in Sonoma County, an area with chronic undersupply of affordable housing due to year-over-year wildfires and population growth, among other factors.
The project was made possible with support from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the Sonoma County Economic Development Board, the Tipping Point Community Foundation, and many community partners, including the Mendocino Companies.
“The Mendocino Companies are honored to support the Santa Rosa Junior College as it works to close the skills gap in the construction trades,” states Mendocino Companies CEO, Bob Mertz.
The anticipated opening of the Construction Training Center is August 2024 for fall semester classes. To support the Construction Training Center, please visit this link https://give.santarosa.edu/
About the Mendocino Companies
The Mendocino Family of Companies include Allweather Wood, Humboldt Redwood Company, Humboldt Sawmill Company, Mendocino Forest Products, Mendocino Redwood Company.
In aggregate Mendocino Companies owns 440,000 acres of Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC® C031337, C013133) certificated timberland, constitutes the largest waterborne wood treater in the Western USA, and is the largest producer of redwood lumber in the world. Collectively providing 900 employees and their families with excellent wages and benefits in rural communities of the Western USA. Additionally, Mendocino Companies owns and operates a 25-megaWatt biomass Cogen plant and largest wood pellet plant in California.
For more information, please visit https://www.MendoCo.com/.
SOURCE Mendocino Forest Products Co., LLC
https://petaluma.santarosa.edu/srjc-construction-center
SRJC Construction Training Center Grant
Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) and the Sonoma County Economic Development Board (EDB) are pleased to announce the award of $7.12 million in grant funding to construct the North Bay Regional Construction and Building Trades Employment Training Center on the SRJC Petaluma campus.
The grant is funded by US Economic Development Administration (EDA) disaster relief fund. The new center is projected to train hundreds of construction and trades workers annually in order to support ongoing county-wide recovery and rebuild efforts after the October 2017 wildfires.
“Affordable housing is extremely limited in Sonoma County right now and construction professionals are in high demand,” SRJC President Frank Chong said. “I am thrilled that SRJC will be able to provide high quality training for students who want to enter the building trades at this new facility. This is another way that the college will help build a foundation for Sonoma County’s future.”
Impact Study
After some of the deadliest wildfires in California’s history destroyed over 5,300 homes in October 2017, a housing impact study was commissioned as a part of the Strategic Sonoma Action Plan partnership recovery efforts. The study by Beacon Economics identified the need to build 30,000 more housing units to account for local fire losses, overcrowding and employment growth, according to Sonoma County EDB Executive Director Sheba Person-Whitley.
Person-Whitley also commented that the project was a great example of a collaborative partnership between the EDB and SRJC. The EDB also led efforts to secure a $1 million matching grant from the Tipping Point Community Foundation.
“If partners are able to mobilize around the Regional Construction and Trades Training and Employment Center to achieve this ambitious goal, Sonoma County could position itself as a model for addressing this pressing post-disaster relief need in other California communities,” added 2nd District Supervisor David Rabbitt.
SRJC will utilize the facility to offer career skill training classes leading to certificates in areas such as:
- construction and building trades
- industrial residential construction methods
- home repair and maintenance
- construction project planning and supervision
- hardscape
- softscape
- fire prevention through landscape
SRJC will offer an array of credit programs that take one to four semesters to complete, including:
- HVAC
- refrigeration technician
- construction management
An associate degree program for students in trade union apprenticeships is under development.
“The center, operating at full capacity, should be able to produce up to 500 skilled jobseekers each year, which will make a big impact on the critical shortage of trained workers in the construction industry,” said Nancy Miller, Director of Regional Adult Education Programs for SRJC and the Sonoma County Adult Education Consortium, who led the SRJC’s efforts to secure the grant funding. This building project is expected to be completed by June, 2023
FUTURE CONSTRUCTION BUILDING
SRJC REPRESENTATIVES
Serafin Hernandez, Senior Director, Capital Projects
Ron Stewart, Project Lead, SRJC Construction Center
Dr. Victor Tam, Dean, Science, Technology Engineering & Mathematics
Brad Davis, Dean,Workforce Development
Mendocino Companies Donate to Construction Training Center
The center will be housed on the Santa Rosa Junior College Petaluma campus
Read the latest updates in construction education from Technical Education institutions across the United States of America:
https://www.techedmagazine.com/category/news-by-industry/construction-education/