Comment Log Display

December 16, 2016 

California Air Resources Board
1001 I Street
Sacramento, CA 95815

Re: Appendix C: Volkswagen Zero Emission Vehicle Investment 
Commitment Development Process and Investment Areas 

Dear California Air Resources Board Members and Staff, 
Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on the
Volkswagen’s (VW) zero emission vehicle (ZEV) Investment Commitment
development process and investment areas for California. The
Foundation for California Community Colleges (Foundation) strongly
supports the significant investment for ZEVs and infrastructure
deployment that will help eliminate toxic mobile emissions, reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, and benefit communities throughout the
United States.

The Foundation is the non-profit organization supporting the
California Community College system, the largest system of higher
education in the nation. The Foundation implements several air
quality programs that directly benefit communities, colleges, and
students, contributing to cleaner air while expanding student
career training opportunities in the automotive field. These
programs include the California Automotive Resource Center, which
provides resources to help automotive professionals advance their
career and education; the Smog Technician Training Program, which
delivers hands-on experience for automotive students to become high
performing smog technicians; and the Replace Your Ride program to
help low-income people trade their older, high polluting vehicles
for a more fuel-efficient option. The Foundation also previously
administered VRRRM (Vehicle Repair, Retirement, and Replacement for
Motorists), an incentive program designed to reduce the number of
high emitting vehicles on the road, and funded by $20 million from
the Reformulated Gasoline Settlement Fund.
Recently, the Foundation was selected by the California Air
Resources Board to implement innovative outreach strategies to
expand participation of disadvantaged communities in California
Climate Investments programs. The statewide presence of community
colleges, particularly in disadvantaged communities, enables us to
outreach to and partner with local communities to address air
quality challenges while building tomorrow’s skilled workforce by
placing our diverse students at the forefront of new environmental
initiatives.  

As part of the VW Investment Commitment (Appendix C) in California,
we strongly support significant investment in ZEV public awareness
and infrastructure to accelerate the deployment of electric
vehicles throughout California. Specific suggestions include: 

• Based on our experience implementing million dollar programs to
clean the air and benefit communities statewide, the Foundation
respectfully requests to be considered a partner in California’s
ZEV public awareness campaign implementation. 
• We encourage engaging the California Community Colleges as a
partner in implementation. With over 2.1 million diverse students,
the community colleges are California’s largest provider of
workforce training, particularly for technical and middle skills
jobs. The system’s 113 colleges are important community
institutions throughout California, including in urban, rural, and
underserved communities. 
• We encourage incorporating student training programs to install
and maintain the ZEV infrastructure to provide hands-on experience
to the next generation of automotive and other clean air technology
professionals. 

We appreciate the opportunity to provide comments. 

Sincerely, 


Keetha Mills
President and Chief Executive Officer