Imperial County training program awarded $500,000 makes idea reality

During the most crucial budget times, it’s important to be creative with how to train students for the work force, Superintendent Anne Mallory said Monday morning.

One way to do that is to link up with nontraditional sources, like the public-private partnership between EW Corp., schools and the “Mega Region” that recently became more than just an idea.

“Having opportunities like this for practical applications is a fabulous opportunity for the community,” said Mallory, who heads the Imperial County Office of Education.

When industry and education work together, “the opportunities are endless,” she said at an event Monday morning announcing a $500,000 grant for machinist training in the county.

The money, donated through the WalMart Foundation, will go to training 30 people in the first year and 30 in the second, said San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. Chief Executive Officer Lauree Sahba. The idea is to have more of a long-term program that extends beyond those two years that the grant covers.

“It will help to get these people jobs,” she said.

The $500,000 will be split about evenly between a project in San Diego and Imperial County, she said. The hope is to get it started by spring 2011, though there are many who have to be involved in those decisions, like Imperial Valley College and the county’s Workforce Investment Board.

Machinists are in high demand, and the jobs are “extraordinarily high paying,” she said.

For EW Corp. president and CEO Tiberio Esparza, the program is perfect, he said. The company needs machinists and those people need the training.

“Overall the county will only be stronger for this,” he said.

The work force training program is an example of how partnering up can be a positive thing, said San Diego Economic Development Corp.’s Christina Luhn, who will be working to implement the program.

“It’s a great idea, but it’s only an idea until you get out there and partner up,” she said.

The training has been in the works for awhile, with many helping the process, including those involved in the Mega Region, a grouping of San Diego and Imperial counties with Baja California to stimulate economic growth among the three.

The training programs are a shining example of how the region idea can benefit many, Luhn said.

“If you don’t give up, you can hit it out of the ball park, and we hit it out of the park,” she said.