After the Jewish Vocational Services (JVS) secured $1M in funding from the Department of Education, the group onboarded The Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA/Agency) as a participant agency for IEWorks, a water/wastewater workforce development group developed by JVS to develop workforce for the Inland Empire water infrastructure.

IEUA made the announcement in a press release last month.

The aim of this program is to provide paid, on-the-job training to interns that will increase the knowledge and expertise required for Inland Empire’s future water leaders.

10 internships in IEUA Annually

The IEWorks program offers up to 10 intern positions in IEUA annually. JVS will manage and partially fund these internships.

JVS has implemented a similar program in San Francisco Bay Area named BAYWORK. The JVS group has secured $1 million grant from the US Department of Education to develop a water/wastewater workforce program within the Inland Empire.

The internship details are as follows:

Details

• Program Duration: 10 weeks up to 6 months – Summer and Fall 2021
• Location: Inland Empire Water & Wastewater Agencies (Specific sites TBD)
• Eligibility: Age 18 or older by the starting date of Internship

41% of IEUA’s Employees to Retire by 2025

The reason why IEUA and other organizations like JVS are pushing forward to train water workforce in the Inland Empire is that the region’s 41% of IEUA’s employees will be eligible for retirement by the year 2025. This might leave the agency short of workers.

To help plug this gap, it is a good idea to offer paid internships to have new employees ready to assume positions when needed.

Goals of Inland Empire Works

1. Build a regional training workforce consortium 
2. Deliver high-quality training leading to in-demand jobs in maintenance and operations (ex. Water Operators)
3. Address economic equity by prioritizing workers in underserved communities