A statewide building boom that includes Central Valley solar farms is powering demand for skilled construction workers and training programs like the one recently toured by Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer.

Earlier this month, the mayor spent more than an hour at the Iron Workers Training Center in southwest Fresno as an all-female ValleyBuild cohort absorbed both hands-on and classroom lessons. The class is the third in the ValleyBuild NOW (Non-traditional Occupations for Women) series, a specialized offshoot of the ValleyBuild MC3 (Multi-Craft Core Curriculum) Apprenticeship Readiness program that introduces students to a variety of building trades.

Dyer told the class about meaningful prospects for jobs based on billions of dollars in construction projects in the city and beyond. He also noted that the region’s wealth of sunshine is an ongoing draw for solar farms generating both electricity and jobs.

“There will be a need for iron workers, who are the ones doing the foundational things for solar, and obviously the need for electricians,” Dyer said. “That’s going to be a lot of jobs now and into the future.”

Intersect Power is currently developing a project to produce reliable, low-cost energy that equates to powering roughly 300,000 homes. The Darden Clean Energy Project, to be located on retired agricultural land in western Fresno County, would be built with American-made materials and union labor, and also feature 2.3 GWh of BESS (Battery Energy Storage System). 

In addition, the project would create more than 1,600 jobs during construction and represent about $253 million in indirect investment in the Fresno community. 

Intersect Power is working with community partners that include ValleyBuild, a largely state grant-funded, regional program providing a path into the trades and careers promising strong wages and benefits. Partners in ValleyBuild include Building Trades Councils in the 14-county area; Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committees throughout the region; Multi-Craft Core Curriculum (MC3) providers; various workforce development boards in the region; The Rios Company; and community-based organizations. 

Several ValleyBuild students were happy to hear Dyer’s description of the ongoing building boom and what it could mean for their careers in the construction industry.

U.S. Army veteran Alisha Soltero is optimistic the ValleyBuild training will lead to a career that allows her family to remain in Kerman. The volume of pending construction projects should give “a lot of families the opportunity to stay here,” said the mother of two children. “A lot of us have kids and you can’t just pack up with your kids — they have their friends, they have their schools, they have their sports.”

Kenyotta Richardson, who once worked for a company related to the wind power industry, is ready to take advantage of the ValleyBuild training and job opportunities. The Fresno resident said she doesn’t see too many women – and particularly women of color – in the trades. ValleyBuild NOW is focused on improving the percentage of women in the industry through its all-female training cohorts.

“The more they put it out there, the more it is available, more women of my color – not just my color but any color – would be willing to dedicate themselves to it,” Richardson said, stressing her commitment to the training.

Graduates of ValleyBuild have more than a few career pathways. In Fresno alone, the city is planning for more than $1.6 billion in capital improvements such as infrastructure upgrades, new construction and expansion projects.

City projects of $1 million or more fall under a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) — a contract between the city and local building trades setting standards for wages, hiring, qualifications and working conditions, for example. Chuck Riojas, financial secretary/treasurer of the Fresno, Madera, Kings and Tulare Counties Building and Construction Trades Council, told the class about the advantage it presents for them.

“It’s important to you because we earmark job opportunities for graduates of this particular pre-apprenticeship program,” he said.

Recognizing and seizing opportunity is the difference between people who are successful and people who aren’t successful, Dyer told the class. “You’ve been given an opportunity of a lifetime right now to be able to receive this training,” he said. “This is something that you need to take advantage of.”

Recruiting for the next ValleyBuild class in Fresno will begin in early August. The class will be open to men and women and registration is available at https://valleybuild.net/.