The Sustainability Education and Economy Development (SEED) Center is being launched to help community colleges train students for jobs in the renewable energy industry. More than 300 community college presidents have signed on to the initiative.
The SEED Center is a leadership initiative, free resource center and online sharing environment for community colleges designed to scale up programs in order to educate the workforce to compete in the green economy.
‘Community colleges are uniquely positioned to be leaders of the sustainability movement, focusing on local economic development and partnering with businesses and government to provide access to jobs,’ says John J. Sygielski, president of Mt. Hood Community College in Oregon and chair of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) board of directors.
The SEED Center offers a broad array of free resources, including curriculum resources, industry and employment information, and case studies and other information, with additional support for program implementation, faculty development and funding.
Initial subject areas include wind, solar, energy efficiency, green building and sustainable education curated by a technical advisory group of academic, government and industry sustainability and cleantech authorities.
The SEED Center is being developed by the AACC and ecoAmerica, with funding from the Kresge Foundation, the Surdna Foundation and the Flora Family Foundation.
SOURCE: ecoAmerica
