I recently joined Tom Delaney, director of government relations at NALP, to talk with staff at the National Office of Job Corps, which is a U.S. Department of Labor program, about the roll-out of its revised landscape program which now includes the Landscape Industry Certified Lawn Care Manager credential. Job Corps offers education and training to young people. This new certification is in addition to the Horticultural Technician and Technician-Exterior certifications that they have been offering since 2006.
We were really excited to hear some of the stories of young people who were introduced to the landscape industry through the Job Corps program and are now in the workforce.
Angelina Eneli graduated from the Tongue Point Landscaping program in 2013 and went on to Job Corps Advanced Training for residential advisers in Texas before returning to Washington state to begin her career in the landscape industry. Angel now works for TruGreen in the Seattle area as a full-time maintenance technician on weekdays and for Clearview Nursery and Stone as an equipment operator on weekends.
While in the Job Corps program, Angelina earned the Landscape Industry Certified Horticultural Technician designation. She hopes to earn the Landscape Industry Certified Technician-Exterior credential this fall at the test offered by Washington Association of Landscape Professionals. Angel also attained her full commercial pesticide applicator license.
