In the southeastern corner of the state, colleges quickly created workforce training programs in response to a promised new lithium industry. Years later, they’re still waiting for jobs to arrive.
When Imperial Valley College launched a new program training students to become plant operators and technicians in the emerging lithium industry, Corban Dillon enrolled in the inaugural class. He’d spent the first part of his career working for his family’s courier business in this part of southeastern California, but it faltered after the pandemic and the death of his father. Dillon hoped the new certificate program would give him a leg up as the industry grew to meet demand for lithium, a key mineral in the country’s clean energy transition.
