College Offers Green Job Training for Veterans

On a recent day the first group of nine former service men graduated from the 12 week Bucks County Community College Veterans Green Jobs program which has prepared them for a “green collar” job, the program is located at the Bridge Business Center in Bristol.  

The program for veterans, who are interested in entering the emerging field of solar and electrical training, was announced by the college and U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy (D) in May.

Clorece Kulp who works in the community college’s Continuing Education Department says the program “is to help veterans who are trying to get jobs in green industry.” Veterans who are accepted and complete the program are entering a field in which the Pennsylvania Green Jobs Report indicated could employ over 100,000 Pennsylvanians over the next three years. 

Kulp also tells the paper that graduates will be eligible to get jobs in the geothermal, farming, solar, residential, commercial or industrial green energy fields.  Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has fortified the state as a national leader in the green industry. Since 2003 the state has invested close to $1 billion dollars in the green industry and expects the financial benefits to be much greater than the investment.
Christine Gillespie, Assistant Vice President of Continuing Education and Workforce Development, reports two graduates have already found “green collar” jobs and others are fielding offers from companies in the industry.


Gillespie said the program comes with a nationally recognized completion certificate and experience through hands on training. 

Veterans who are interested in applying for the next semester which starts in January 2011 have to submit a DD-214 form which is a form stating that a service member has been honorably discharged from the armed forces. The applicant then faces personal interviews with program officials and must take Reading, Math, Applied Technology and Personal Skills assessments. Applicants then must pass a Physical Capability Assessment to be sure they can handle the work which may require bending, climbing and lifting objects weighing up to 50 pounds. 

The Veterans Green Jobs program is part of the larger Bucks County Community College Green Jobs Academy which is the only program of its type offered on the East Coast of the United States. Gillespie says the program has been in place since earlier this year and has received over $1 million dollars in funding from the state and federal government.  

The Veterans Green Jobs Program at Bucks not only helps veterans learn the skills they need to perform at their job in the green industry, the college also helps them search for work.

Founded in 2008, Veterans Green Jobs (veteransgreenjobs.org) is a national 501c3 non-profit organization based in Denver, Colorado which helps veterans gain employment in the green jobs industry, which is crucial to our future nation.  

Names of graduates from the first class of the Veterans Green Jobs Academy:
Anthony Rotoli, Carl Pullins, Chris Dean, Clark Fuss Jr., Darren Jarido, David Ditmars, Dominick Vega, Greg Crisman and Paul Dooley. 

For more information you can visit the community college’s Veterans Green Jobs website http://www.bucks.edu/vetsgreenjobs or call 215-788-3594.

Tom Sofield (tsofield@buxmontnews.com)

Staff Writer