The California Energy Commission approved Agreement FED-26-003, a $1.5 million grant to the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California for the California Residential Energy Services Supporting Training (CRESST) project, according to the July 8 business meeting materials.
The commission also adopted staff CEQA findings and authorized the Executive Director or designee to execute the agreement, the packet says.
According to the grant request form and scope of work, CRESST is designed to reduce barriers that can keep apprentices from finishing residential electrical, plumbing and heating, ventilation and air conditioning training. The program will provide childcare stipends and required safety tools to income-qualified apprentices, with the stated aim of strengthening California’s residential energy-efficiency workforce pipeline.
The scope of work says the project will support electricians, plumbers/pipefitters and sheet metal workers through four cohorts over a two-year term running from July 8, 2026, through July 31, 2028. It also calls for outreach to 57 joint apprenticeship training committees, support for 644 apprentices across two tranches, monthly invoices and progress reports, quarterly evaluation reporting, a preliminary evaluation report for tranche 1 and a final closeout process.
The packet identifies Strategy Workplace Communications as a subcontractor and lists the California Statewide Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee, the California State Pipetrades Council and the Western States Council of SMART as vendors tied to stipend and tool distribution.
The CEQA documentation says the agreement is not considered a project because it would not cause a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment.
