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Green Innovation & Career Center

  • Educate skilled workforce to fill jobs in an emerging green industry
  • Retrain unemployed workers
  • Increase job opportunities in the coastal Georgia area by attracting green technology companies
  • Provide demonstration site for current and future green technologies
  • Provide incubation space for green innovative small businesses

Program Outline

  • The construction of a state-of-the-art innovation and green career development facility
  • Post-secondary credit training programs
    • Associate degree, diploma, and certificate credit programs in green skills areas developed and presented
  • Short-term non-credit training programs
    • Rapidly retrain current workers with sustainable skills
      • Construction
      • Automotive
      • Industrial Systems
      • HVAC
      • Historic Preservation
      • Historic Retrofit
      • Commercial Interiors
      • Landscaping
      • Drafting
      • Electrical
  • Increase job opportunities in the coastal Georgia area

Program Description

  • Construction of training and demonstration facility
  • Development of incubation spaces for innovating small businesses
  • Replication of facility and programs in other locations throughout the county
  • Curriculum Options
    • Associate degree, diploma, and certificate credit programs in green skills areas developed and presented
    • Short-term, continuing education non-credit programs presented for all levels of personnel from technicians through designers and researchers.
    • Seamless transition from secondary to post-secondary training in sustainablility and renewable energy technologies

Statement of Need

  • Savannah Technical College lacks the capacity to address the sustainable skills training needs
    • sustainable technology programs
    • training equipment
    • qualified instruction faculty
  • Lack of demonstration/training facilities devoted to sustainable technologies in the Coastal Georgia area
  • Increased demand for skilled workers in green technologies
  • Current workforce lacks necessary skills
  • Retrain workers in the local area

Coastal Georgia Partnerships

  • Collaborations with key, strategic, and diverse organizations
  • Participation in the design and operation of the Green Innovation and Career Center
  • Managed by Savannah Technical College
  • Replication of facility and programs in other locations throughout the State and Country

Potential Partnerships

  • Chatham County
  • City of Savannah
  • Coastal Workforce Investment Board
  • Green Building Technology Suppliers
  • GreenSweep
  • Gunn Meyerhoff Shay Architects
  • Home Builders Association of Greater Savannah
  • Savannah Chamber of Commerce
  • Savannah/Chatham Public Schools
  • Step-Up Savannah
  • Savannah Economic Development
    Authority
  • Savannah Automobile Dealers
  • Georgia/Local Foundations
  • Georgia Power
  • Southeast Energy Alliance
  • U.S. Department of Energy

Current Status

  • September 10, 2009
    • Presentation at Savannah Technical College


  • Ongoing
    • Schedule meetings with key partners
    • Commitment Letters from key partners
    • Pursuing grant funding and financing