A free program designed to provide new career options as Database Specialists for unemployed, dislocated workers and others referred by state and private agencies
will begin at Grossmont College August 26. The 12-week full-time program includes 19 college units configured into 368 hours of class work, followed by a six-week, 150-hour internship through January 2003.
 
     Database Specialists work with organizations to keep track of customers, employees, inventory and other information. They work with other employees to determine data requirements and design databases to organize the information for quick, efficient entry and retrieval.
 
     For those who qualify, books, tuition, fees, tutors, counseling, support services, internships, job placement, follow up and job retention assistance are provided by the project which is funded through the Federal Workforce Investment Act. Dislocated workers are individuals who receive, or are eligible to receive, or have exhausted unemployment insurance.
 
     Students who do not meet dislocated worker eligibility guidelines may be eligible to enroll on a voucher basis via referral from the Veterans Administration, California State Department of Rehabilitation, private rehabilitation agencies, or the One-Stop Career Center network in San Diego County. Displaced homemakers are also eligible to apply.
 
     Program officials suggest that participants have an aptitude for and desire to learn computing skills, although previous experience is not a requirement for enrollment into the Database Specialist Program. Database Specialists are detail-oriented employees who work with others as well as independently on various computer information projects.
 
     The program is administered through the college's Leadership & Economic Development Institute (LEDI). For more information or to enroll, call Malissa Kemp, Resource Specialist, 619-644-7608; malissa.kemp@gcccd.net. For program details, visit www.grossmont.net/ledi/database.htm.