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Colorado is the first state in the nation in which the entire Community College System has formed a Strategic Alliance with Green Advantage®. This approach is offered as a guild for others to replicate the Green Advantage/Colorado Model; or, alternatively, to offer Green Advantage Certification at your individual college. You are encouraged to follow all or select elements that are suitable for your jurisdiction.
Green Advantage®: A Model for Community College Training and
Certification for Building Industry Practitioners
Goals and Objectives:
Green Advantage and the Colorado Community College System, made up of 13 colleges, will create an industry-driven state-wide model to prepare and credential workers for success as building industry practitioners in the green economy.
Specifically, the initiative will:
- demonstrate the value of the Green Advantage Certification in aligning college programs with industry expectations
- provide industry-recognized credentials for students who are future workers in green construction/retrofitting and current employees wishing to increase their knowledge, capacity and credibility
- coordinate efforts across multiple community colleges to synergize higher educational leadership, identify workforce and economic development change agents and community based organizations who interact with community colleges to improve regional labor markets
- create local and state incentives ensuring those trained and certified become the foundation of the emerging green workforce and are preferred or required on new and retro-fit projects
Activity 1: Create new or customize existing curriculum to properly align courseware with Green Advantage Exam material. This may be accomplished as individual colleges or system wide.
Activity 2: Offer a set of non-credit certification courses for builders, remodelers, realtors, developers and other interested parties. Green Advantage® Certification will be a part of this offering.
Activity 3: Designate participating college testing facilities as approved Green Advantage Testing Centers. CCCS will work with Green Advantage to have CCCS participating college testing facilities designated as official Green Advantage Testing Centers. Alternatively, students may sit for the exam at any one of the many Green Advantage testing sites available across the county.
Activity 4: Implement incentives within Community College system to give preferential consideration to contractor and subcontractor firms bidding on new construction or retro-fit on-campus projects that have a significant percentage (at least 50%) of their building force Green Advantage Certified.
Activity 5: CCCS and Green Advantage will work closely with the Colorado Governor’s Energy Office to implement state-wide incentives for certified builders on new construction or retro-fits by including GA Construction Field Personnel Standard™ in bids, thereby creating a system in which those certified are then employed.
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