Page 37 - BusinessWest March 7, 2022

chusetts, we tried to design a process to inform people about some of the fundamentals in relation to the indus- try itself, so we developed a module called the core program, and we ask every participant to go through the core program,” he said.
That program requires two eight- hour Saturday sessions. Beyond that are four separate, occupation-specific tracks, typically three all-day Saturday sessions, to train for a specific area
of the cannabis workforce: patient services associate (what’s commonly known as a ‘budtender’), who works directly with customers on both adult and medical use; cultivation assis- tant, who helps in all areas of the grow operation and requires knowledge of plant biology, soils, hydroponics, plant health, nutrition, harvesting, trim- ming, inventory tracking, and manag- ing plant waste; extraction technician, who learns how to safely extract useful molecular components from canna-
“When we launched
it, we had a tremendous number of inquiries, and that remains at a very high level, which is very encouraging.”
bis and hemp; and culinary assistant, who is responsible for cooking, baking, and infusing cannabis- or hemp-based products with extracts.
“We’re in the process of creating a fifth track designed for entrepreneurs,” added Hayden, who noted that the center focuses on five key pillars: com- munity education; social-equity train- ing; occupational training; custom contract training to cannabis business- es, including communication, leader- ship, and mentorship skills; and devel- oping different trainings that would be useful for the industry.
Scholarships are available, and each job-training program is followed immediately by an internship period with a licensed cannabis industry employer. The center has helped place graduates in full-time jobs as well, at companies like GTI, Trulieve, and Ana- lytic Labs, and some companies have engaged directly with HCC about the kinds of skills they need.
AIC relies on industry profession- als as well, as adjunct instructors to complement the college’s own busi- ness professors.
“From the onset, the program has been a collaboration of full-time faculty in business working with individuals in the field, people who own their own business as well as individuals that are working in larger
Colleges
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