Job Corps Ties Green Training Requirements to NCCER Curricula

Effective Oct. 1, 2009, all Job Corps center-operated construction, advanced manufacturing and automotive training programs are required to implement the Job Corps’ newly green Training Achievement Records (TARs). These TARs incorporate green elements based on NCCER’s “Your Role in the Green Environment” module and were validated by a group of industry experts and Job Corps management and construction instructors. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Job Corps has committed to producing 8,500 green graduates from all of its construction programs by August 2010. To implement the Green Construction TARs, Job Corps has communicated with its centers the importance of acquiring NCCER accreditation in order to be able to certify students. Through the NCCER accreditation process, instructors can obtain certification to enable students to receive industry-recognized credentials and documentation of their training accomplishments through NCCER’s National Registry. “Students have a better opportunity for getting jobs with NCCER training,” says facility maintenance instructor Robert Watson, Jr. at the Gainesville Job Corps Center in Gainesville, Fla. “Besides having an NCCER certification,” he said, “students have an advantage of being candidates for large construction companies in the U.S.”