Local jobs-generating agreement championed by College Trustee Jose Solorio

For Immediate Release: March 25, 2014
For More Information Contact: Maricela Taylor – mobile: (714) 794-8431

LOCAL JOBS-GENERATING AGREEMENT CHAMPIONED BY COMMUNITY COLLEGE TRUSTEE JOSE SOLORIO

Unique Community and Student Workforce Project Agreement Includes “Local Hire” and “Helmets To Hardhats” Requirements for Construction Projects

Santa Ana, CA — The Rancho Santiago Community College District (RSCCD) Board of Trustees approved an agreement yesterday that will create thousands of local jobs while improving education facilities at Santa Ana College.

The agreement requires 66 percent of all those hired to work on upcoming construction projects at Santa Ana College to live in Orange County and 50 percent to live within the college district’s jurisdiction cities, including Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Anaheim, Orange, Tustin, Irvine and Villa Park. The measure will also help veterans to enter and succeed in construction through a “helmets to hardhats” program that has been implemented successfully in other communities. Present and past RSCCD students in local construction apprenticeship programs will also benefit under the agreement’s local hire program.

“I’m proud we are building new classrooms and facilities at Santa Ana College, but I’m just as proud that the majority of the construction work will be performed by our local residents,” said Jose Solorio, President of the Board of Trustees. “A project of this magnitude has a multiplier effect that positively impacts not just these workers, but our entire local economy.” Using data from other construction projects, Community College Trustee Solorio estimated the agreement will create or save 2,880 jobs. Matching local and state dollars could mean the impact is even greater, he said. While the economy has rebounded somewhat, its downward spiral in the past years has been hard-felt in Orange County’s construction industry. The Community and Student Workforce Project Agreement will undoubtedly help get local residents back to work.

The college construction project is the result of Measure Q, a $198 million bond measure approved by Santa Ana voters in 2012. The measure will fund the upgrading of career training facilities for science, nursing, technology and other trade programs. In addition, it will help repair, construct and acquire classrooms, facilities, technology, equipment and security systems for students at Santa Ana College.

Community College Trustee Jose Solorio is the President of the Board of Trustees for the Rancho Santiago Community College District, which oversees Santa Ana College and Santiago Canyon College, and represents 700,000 residents in the cities of Anaheim, Garden Grove, Irvine, Orange, Santa Ana, Tustin, and Villa Park. Prior to that, he represented the cities of Anaheim, Garden Grove and Santa Ana in the State Assembly for six years. He holds a bachelor’s degree from UC Irvine and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University. To learn more about Trustee Solorio, please visit him online at Facebook.com/Solorio4California, Twitter.com/JoseSolorio and SolorioForSenate.com.

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