Southwest Vermont Career Development Center is one step closer to cooking up a two-year culinary arts and hospitality program after the state recently approved curriculum for the course. The Department of Education also approved the curriculum for two short-block introductory courses at Bennington's technical center that will run from 50 to 60 minutes a day -- one that will teach about artificial intelligence and engineering through model trains and one on water resource management.

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Recruiting highly skilled professional workers is a challenge for any employer, but more so in Vermont — a rural state with a relatively small home-grown work force — than in major metro areas such as Boston or the San Francisco Bay area. Finding key employees with rare technical and professional expertise can be vital to a small, ambitious company looking to expand its niche in a highly competitive global field.

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Central Vermont Community Action Council  is on track to distribute nearly $5 million in ARRA funds to train Vermonters in solar, wind-power, weatherization, and other green jobs by the end of 2011. The $4.86 million grant awarded to CVCAC by the US Department of Labor in January, is to coordinate green-job training across the state. CVCAC has created Vermont Green, (Vermont Growing Renewable Energy/Efficiency Employment Network), a statewide partnership to identify, create, and sponsor various training opportunities. The diverse array of partners includes private businesses, education institutions, organizations working directly with job seekers, and local government officials.

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Fletcher Allen Health Care and Vermont HITEC are recruiting candidates for the partnership's first training program for licensed nursing assistants.The free two-part training program will be conducted during an eight-week period. Students who successfully complete an unpaid three-week readiness program will enter a paid five-week training program that combines academic course content with clinical rotations, program officials said. The program will prepare eight participants to work directly with patients and to apply for LNA licensure with the Vermont State Board of Nursing.

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A new Windham Regional Career Center program is being recognized as one way to help transform high school education across New England. The career center, and Milton High School, have been chosen to represent Vermont at a regional conference this week. Representatives from Windham Regional Career Center will be at the New England Secondary School Consortium on April 9 in Nashua, N.H., to talk about the school’s collegiate high school program that allows high school students to take college courses and receive college credits which can be transferred upon graduating high school.

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Research at the University of Vermont received a substantial boost in the current federal budget, with $3.4 million for eight projects that include magnetic resonance imaging and advanced computing. The appropriations, signed into law for fiscal 2010 by President Obama, were announced by the office of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D.-Vt., who shepherded these earmarks through the congressional funding process.

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Dozens of people, including students from the Southwest Vermont Career Development Center, a work crew from the Vermont Department of Corrections and state legislators, gathered at the Vermont Agency of Transportation's Bennington garage on Monday to help prepare cords of wood for distribution through the Wood Warms program.

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A $4.8 million economic stimulus grant awarded Wednesday to the Central Vermont Community Action Council will train about 2,400 Vermonters under a green jobs program backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. The Vermont grant -- one of 25 announced by the U.S. Department of Labor -- was among the largest awarded under the $100 million Energy Training Partnership program.

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The Bennington Banner reports that this fall, a new, free program will be offered in Bennington and other parts of the state "to anyone unemployed or underemployed and looking to further their career skills." Sponsored by the Community College of Vermont and the Vermont Department of Labor, those who complete the program will receieve a "Career Readiness Certificate." Indeed, the program presents "an opportunity [for individuals] to measure and improve their job skills" and will be made up of six modules: "applied mathematics; reading for information; locating information; teamwork and interpersonal skills; work ethic, learning and life skills; and basic computer skills."

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Vermont Public Radio reports that "as more people lose their jobs in Vermont, the fund that pays for unemployment benefits is getting stretched thin." According to recent predictions by Vermont's state economist, "Vermont's unemployment rate will rise to almost 8 percent by mid-2010," and "that means more people will collect unemployment benefits." Currently, the Vermont fund "is paying out about $35 million more a year than it takes in. If the fund runs out of money, states can borrow from the federal government." Chris Barbieri of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce said he "will be following the issue in the Legislature." Barbieri condcluded, "It's going to be a juggling act to be sure that we are paying benefits that are needed to be paid to the unemployed and at the same we're keeping in mind the burdens currently on the employer community, which include also the minimum wage increase which occurred yesterday."

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Vermont Public Radio reports that a new training program will be launched later this month at the Community College of Vermont (CCV). The Career Readiness Program will be offerred at CCV's Burlington campus and will train prospective employees in a range of skills "from math to computers to basics like getting to work on time." Upon completion of the course, students will receive a certificate. The certificate is significant because it singals that "the state government and the Community College of Vermont [believe] that [the] prospective employee is proficient in [the] range of skills" described above. Notably, "there will be 450 people in the first class. Students will be tested at the start of classes so CCV knows where they need the most help." Students will also be tested at the end of the course. "The state says those scores will be compared against a national database that details the skills needed in 13,000 different occupations. Employers will be able to use the scores and the database to help match the best workers to available jobs."

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Vermont Public Radio reports that "about 1,000 Vermont workers will be able to improve their jobs skills through training being paid for with a $400,000 grant." According to Governor Jim Douglas, "The training will help members of Vermont's work force find high-skill, high-wage jobs and help their employers be more competitive in the global marketplace." The training will be provided by the nonprofit Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center on the campus of Vermont Technical College in Randolph. "Last year the program provided training to almost 5,000 workers from more than 80 Vermont firms."

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WCAX News reports that a report by the U.S. census bureau has found that " the birth rate in New Hampshire and Vermont was 42 births per 1,000 women," lower than the national average of 55 births per 1,000 women. The findings suggest that both states have the lowest fertility rate in the nation. "Vermont officials worry the low birth rate could threaten to shrink the state's work force. The median age of Vermont's work force is just over 42-years-old, the highest in the nation."

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Vermont Public Radio reports that thanks to a $5 million gift from philanthropist Lois McClure, the "the University of Vermont has created a new Center on Aging that will use research and education to help people stay healthy as they grow older." Notably, "Vermont has the second oldest population in the country, and "in 20 years, the number of Vermonters 65 and older will double," meaning "there will be fewer [people] in the work force." In addition, "the number of older people with disabilities will grow 45 percent in ten years." McClure explained, "There are a lot of things we haven't figured out about supporting an older population. How will people remain financially secure into their 70s, 80s and 90s? What accommodations will people need to keep working as they get older? And how do we stay healthy?"

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The Burlington Free Press reports that "the Community College of Vermont celebrated the commencement of its largest-ever graduating class, awarding two-year degrees to 458 students from across the state." Of these 458 students, "96 percent are in-state students; many are the first in their family to earn a college degree, and most have roots to the communities in which they live," meaning they are likely to stay in Vermont after graduation. Notably, "enrollment at CCV has jumped 40 percent in the last five years, and is up 14 percent over last year." CCV also "strives to keep its tuition the lowest in the state — $4,420 for tuition and fees in the 2007-2008 academic year, compared to $12,044 (excluding room and board) for in-state students at the University of Vermont."

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