https://www.wtrf.com/news/education/egcc-offering-training-for-cannabis-industry-jobs/
WTRF – EGCC offering training for cannabis industry jobs
STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (WTRF) – There’s a major need in one of the fastest growing industries in the country.
As Eastern Gateway Community College was preparing its latest curriculum, they saw where the jobs were available added a new Cannabis Education Program.
175 million jobs are predicted in this industry, so we need to be there one the cutting edge.
ARTHUR DALY, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER, EASTERN GATEWAY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
The cannabis industry is creating new jobs quickly across the country, but the people responsible for filling those jobs say there’s a shortage of qualified professionals.
We’ve heard a lot from our partners in the industry who came to use and said ‘we are having a hard time finding qualified people to come and work in the three main areas of the industry’ which is dispensary operations, grow facility operations and the manufacturing laboratories.
DANIEL KALEF, VICE PRESIDENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION, GREEN FLOWER
The Cannabis Education Program is an 8-week courts that prepares Eastern Gateway Community College students to thrive in the cannabis industry.
The college partnered with Green Flower, which has been doing cannabis-centered education for about eight years, to create the training platform.
Certificates can be earned for an Advanced Manufacturing Agent, Advanced Dispensary Associate and Advanced Cultivation Technician.
Green Flower said it likes to partner with community colleges like EGCC because they are workforce-driven.
If you don’t innovate and create you you lose and one of the biggest things is we have to make sure we’re an innovative college. We have to always re-create reinvent ourselves.
ARTHUR DALY, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER, EASTERN GATEWAY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
The Cannabis Education Program is offered entirely online and it’s self-paced. Several students are already enrolled.
This is a national program too. This isn’t just localized, regionalized, it’s a national program, so a lot of our students are out of this area. Our first graduate is actually from Virginia.
ARTHUR DALY, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER, EASTERN GATEWAY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Courses specialize in cultivation, manufacturing and dispensary operations.
They want graduates to have a deep understanding of each aspect of the industry, which can include anything from how the plants are grown to how to advise patients in dispensaries about the proper dosages.
They have chronic pain or information, or they don’t sleep well or they’re in cancer treatment and they don’t eat well and so you really need people that are working in dispensary to understand how cannabis really affects the human body.”
DANIEL KALEF, VICE PRESIDENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION, GREEN FLOWER
Since medical cannabis is legal in Ohio, this program is especially important to those setting up operations in the Buckeye State.
The interesting thing about the cannabis industry is because it’s not federally legal, everything sold in a dispensary in Ohio has to be made and grown in Ohio. You can’t transport anything across state lines, so your jobs to support the industry are all are all here. These are really important positions that the industry needs.
DANIEL KALEF, VICE PRESIDENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION, GREEN FLOWER
When students complete the program they will receive a certificate and a digital credential. That credential will allow them to set up a profile on a cannabis careers website, which is one of the best ways to find a job in the industry.
For more information or to enroll, visit cannabiseducation.egcc.edu.