Earning their 'green-collar' credentials

About 150 lucky young people will form the ranks of a new Green Job Corps in San Mateo County this fall, one of several "green collar" pilot projects around the Bay Area to receive a first flush of federal stimulus dollars.

San Mateo County will apply its $936,429 in grant funds — awarded by the state, who selected each recipient — toward on-the-job training for the youths, who will learn everything from how to deconstruct a building and recycle the pieces to how to make a home more energy-efficient. Three other grants of similar size were awarded to community colleges in the Bay Area: Peralta Community College in Oakland, Evergreen Community College District in San Jose, and City College of San Francisco.

In San Mateo County, participants ages 16 to 24 will earn a salary of as much as $10 an hour as they cycle through a series of part-time jobs designed to arm them with the theoretical learning and practical skills to appeal to a future employer in the growing "green collar" market.

"Everybody's talking about the 'green revolution,' and this is our chance for moving the youth forward in that," said Dennis Myers, who submitted the grant application on behalf of the Human Services Agency Workforce Investment Board.