 |
||||
|
 |
Shoreline Community College (SCC), recently named Washington State’s only National Training Center (NTC) for the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium (NAFTC), found an eager audience at the fourth annual Northwest Biodiesel Forum in Seattle, Washington. A steady stream of interested students, parents, consumers, state legislators, environmentalists, researchers, biodiesel producers, fleet managers, and other clean fuel enthusiasts visited SCC’s booth for information about alternative fuel vehicle and advanced technology vehicle training.
“People came from all over the State to learn about biodiesel,” stated Mark Hankins, Interim Director of Automotive Programs at SCC. “Their excitement was fueled by the new, ground-breaking Renewable Fuel Standard mandating that all diesel sold in Washington State must contain 2 percent biodiesel by 2008. We surveyed visitors to gauge their interest in alternative fuel/advanced technology vehicle courses. Now we have a good sense of which courses people are ready to sign up for.” SCC was tapped for NAFTC membership in early 2006 because of its innovative Automotive Training & Career Opportunities (ATCO) Project (funded by a grant awarded by the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative and implemented by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration) and because of SCC’s acclaimed manufacturer-sponsored Automotive Program.
The ATCO Project, a model project to be replicated across the United States, provides entry-level training to help non-traditional audiences discover high-wage, high-tech career pathways in today’s automotive industry. Through the NAFTC’s NTC, the ATCO Project also plans to offer alternative fuel training classes to incumbent workers in the automotive sales and service industry. For more information about the ATCO Project or the NTC at SCC, contact Mark Hankins at mhankins@shoreline.edu. |
||
 |
||||
 |
||||
