This summer, the GRID North Valley Sacramento office was thrilled as one of our trainees was hired onto our staff as a Solarcorps Construction Fellow. 18 year-old Andre Marks recently graduated from Sacramento Job Corps, an education program that trains youth ages 16-24 to gain career skills, earn a high school diploma or GED, and find a job. Andre\u2019s employment with GRID Alternatives happened as a direct result of our partnership with Sacramento Job Corps. From April through July of this year, a group of six trainees from Job Corps trained on six solar job sites with GRID crews led by Solar Installation Supervisor David Provine and an orientation and a career pathways training session with Workforce Program Manager Hilary Tellesen. Together, the Job Corps team became GRID-certified in installation skills including Array Layout, Micro-Inverter Installation, and Module Installation through our Installation Basics Training (IBT) program.<\/p>\n
Andre\u2019s leadership qualities and sense of innovation made him stand out as a candidate for employment with GRID. As a youth fresh from earning his high school diploma, Andre is enthusiastic about jumping into the exciting and growing solar industry. He likes installing partially because of the sense of accomplishment it can provide. He says \u201cI see myself doing installation in the future. It\u2019s fun, I get it, and it\u2019s something I see myself doing further down the line. I like putting things together. Seeing how it goes from the beginning to being all the way built up. It\u2019s good when you see yourself done with the work that you did.\u201d<\/p>\n
This sense of accomplishment builds on the foundation that Andre has been building for his life in a larger sense as well. His journey away from a challenging background towards an empowered future has been informed by his connection to his family roots and inspired by his promise to his grandmother. \u201cWhat brought me to Job Corps was the surroundings I was in. I was in a bad town. I wanted to get out of the house. I looked at my options. I looked at ways that I could stay close to my family and still be able to move around and network around them. Job Corps was the best thing I had going for me. The goal was getting a job, getting my high school diploma. That was a promise I made to my grandma and I was going to do that regardless of what situation I was in.\u201d Andre\u2019s story is one example of how organizations like Job Corps and GRID Alternatives can serve as pathways to personal enrichment and can support trainees to shape the future they want for themselves.<\/p>\n
Andre loves his work with GRID. Though he enjoys learning about electrical work, he loves the social justice aspect of the work even more. \u201cEverything I\u2019ve done with GRID has been positive so far. I\u2019ve learned a lot so it\u2019s a great place to be, especially for someone my age. I\u2019m very proud of the things I\u2019m doing. I like helping people; it\u2019s a great feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
The GRID team is excited to welcome Andre along with our other Solarcorps fellows, and we are looking forward to seeing how each fellow\u2019s perspective weaves its contribution into the tapestry that makes up GRID\u2019s mission. One trainee at a time, we are sparking a revolution of passion for renewable energy and the global movement it illuminates. As for Andre, he\u2019s discovered a partnership with solar in this Solarcorps Construction Fellowship that inspires his path. \u201cI see this leading to a career. It\u2019s starting out well and I just want it to end well.I can say I want to be doing this for the rest of my life.\u201d Thanks to PG&E for supporting GRID’s SolarCorps program in the North Valley!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This summer, the GRID North Valley Sacramento office was thrilled as one of our trainees was hired onto our staff as a Solarcorps Construction Fellow. 18 year-old Andre Marks recently graduated from Sacramento Job Corps.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3510,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[],"audience":[],"content-type":[12],"focus-area":[20,73],"region":[],"series":[],"content-author":[],"class_list":["post-3509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-workforce-education","content-type-news","focus-area-job-training","focus-area-workforce-development"],"acf":{"hero_media_type":"image","hero_media_image":null,"hero_media_url":"","hero_media_poster":null,"hero_video_play":"inline","related_stories":null,"pattern_override":null,"story_callouts":null,"media":null,"featured_blog_post":null,"featured_event":null,"pdf_download":null,"blockquote":null,"author":null,"notice":null,"social_embed":null,"contact_card":null,"meta_details":null,"faq":null,"table":null},"yoast_head":"\n