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South Los Angeles is a desert when it comes to solar energy training classes, according to some experts in clean energy and job training. A map of community college programs lends credence to their concern.

The neighborhoods that make up the region, including the city of Compton, have some of the highest percentages of African American residents of any in the Los Angeles area.

“California leads the country in solar jobs, and yet there is no training here,” said Saun Hough, vocational services administrator at Shields for Families, a community non-profit that offers 39 different programs. “It is really alarming.”

What is needed, leaders say, is money earmarked for classroom training in clean energy fields that cannot be spent on anything else.

Creating opportunity

Students in South L.A., people changing careers, and those going through reentry after prison must have the same chance to get credentials and associates degrees in some of the fastest-growing job fields as people in other neighborhoods. Otherwise, the entire community will miss out on the wealth and improved housing the industries offer, Hough said.

More than 750,000 people live in South L. A., if you don’t count those with easy access to Los Angeles Trade-Tech, the community college located right at the I-10 freeway, the northern boundary of South L.A. If you were to count all of South L.A., it’s more like 950,000 people.

Grid Alternatives, the nation’s largest nonprofit solar installer, offers hands-on solar training and installation in communities most affected by climate injustice, including South L.A. Its mission is to install solar in overburdened communities and to make the energy transition more just, through training. Adewale OgunBadejo, workforce development manager at Grid, said their trainings in the region are always booked. “People are very, very interested. But it doesn’t exist, you know, if Grid is not doing it.”

Grid Alternatives likes to work in partnership with community colleges. There are several community colleges in South L.A. There are also four career training centers. But they do not offer solar or clean technology programs.

“There definitely needs to be an investment in terms of dollars and in terms of infrastructure in these local communities to make sure they don’t get locked out of this transition or they come to the party too late,” OgunBadejo said.

Kenneth Wells, now CEO of O&M Solar, found his way to Grid Alternatives’ hands-on training. He advanced from basic skills training just out of prison at Homeboys Industries, to temporary jobs as an apprentice, to licensed electrician, to solar installer, to supervisor, then regional construction supervisor at SunRun, to founding his own company. He said it is very difficult to find trained people locally. “There is a high demand for installers. And I know if these people were trained, they would be the pool of talent that California needs.”

He looks forward to the day when there are a lot more people like him. "I get a lot of joy out of showing people what is possible in this industry,” he said.

Dr. Paul Flor, dean of student learning at Compton College, said the school would “need additional elements in place to consider moving forward” with such a program. He cited employer partners as one element. Students in the air conditioning and refrigeration program, he noted, do learn about managing buildings with an eye to clean energy.

Los Angeles Southwest College and Harbor College did not return calls or emails.

Every year matters, Hough said. If Black residents don’t learn basic solar skills, they can’t move up the way Kenneth Wells did, forming their own companies. Before they get a chance, he said, the field will be dominated by major players.

--Ingrid Lobet

Editor's Note: The original longer version of this piece was published by Canary Media

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Solar Job Training Drought in South Los Angeles

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