The California Community College system educates 1.8 million students across 116 colleges and is the largest higher ed system in the US. Its Economic and Workforce Development Program uses $1 billion in funding for colleges to prepare students for the workforce. A new initiative surrounding workforce development specifically for Cannabis launched bringing together students interested in working in the industry with industry members, educators, and attorneys, to support the efforts at the colleges to develop cannabis related curriculum. The group has a great website (linked above) and holds events – primarily in NorCal currently.
It partnered with the California Community College Association for Occupational Education (CCCAOE) with the creation of the CannaBus CCCAOE Tour which introduces cannabis education as a thing and promoting it to educators around the state. Placing it within Occupational Education allows new programs to have funding for the development of hands-on, real-world classes. It looks from the website that much of the work is informational, but some may develop to be curricular. Shared curriculum among the colleges would speed up the creation of cannabis courses throughout the system.
One problem may be that colleges need Labor Market Information(LMI) showing jobs to receive funding. Leafly has a jobs report in partnership with Whitney Economics. The Dept. of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is prohibited from including legal marijuana jobs in their yearly analysis. Usually, the California Community College system requires LMI from the BLS info to show that new programs address a workforce need before funding.
