Green Careers in Their Own Backyard: How CAPS Is Opening Doors for Stanislaus County Youth
Picture a group of high school students, many of them from Title One schools, standing in front of a room full of industry professionals, presenting research on renewable natural gas with the confidence of seasoned professionals. They field questions from engineers and directors. They own the content. They walk out of the room changed.
That is what Climate Action Pathways for Schools delivers, one cohort at a time. And thanks to Stanislaus 2030, in partnership with Stanislaus County Workforce Development, it is now happening right here in Stanislaus County.
An Organization Built Around Student Potential
Climate Action Pathways for Schools (CAPS) is a nonprofit that partners with school districts to deliver paid, project-based internships that prepare students for careers in the green economy while advancing real sustainability goals within the districts they serve. To date, CAPS has provided 225 paid internships to high school students, with an emphasis on reaching young people from communities underrepresented in STEM fields and disproportionately affected by climate change.
The Central Valley is one of CAPS’ three regional hubs, alongside the Bay Area and Los Angeles County, and Stanislaus County sits at the center of that work. CAPS launched its partnership with Modesto City Schools in November 2023, and with Stanislaus 2030’s support, expanded that footprint to include Ceres and Turlock Unified School Districts, building a growing community of practice among school districts working toward shared goals.
Building the Program: From School Year to Summer
Stanislaus 2030’s investment, distributed in partnership with Stanislaus County Workforce Development, supported a full arc of programming across the school year and into the summer. Cumulatively, 50 students enrolled in sector-based workforce training: 30 participated during the school year through CAPS’ Work-Based Learning in Sustainability initiative, and 20 joined an intensive summer cohort that ran from June 29 through July 16.
Throughout both phases, CAPS worked to strengthen industry partnerships, develop lesson plans, and build the scaffolding that connects classroom learning to real careers. More than three employer and industry partners, including Aemetis, DeHart Technical School, and Turlock Irrigation District (TID), supported career exposure, site-based learning, and real-world research opportunities. CAPS also collaborated with the Stanislaus Partners In Education (SPIE), school district partners, and workforce development organizations to align programming with what regional employers actually need.
Lesson plans developed for students included modules on local manufacturing careers, trade school pathways, biogas and the renewable energy economy, and a primer on DeHart Technical School’s programs. These materials were designed not just to inform students, but to make the local economy visible to young people who had never had a reason to see it as a place for them.
A Summer That Changed How Students See Their Future
The summer cohort brought the year’s groundwork to life. Students from Modesto City Schools, Ceres, and Turlock Unified were connected with two regional industry anchors: Turlock Irrigation District and Aemetis, whose operations include both a large ethanol plant in Keyes and a network of dairy biogas pipelines spanning 15 farms across Stanislaus and Merced counties.
Students heard from six guest speakers at TID, covering careers from communications and HR to energy services. They had frank conversations about what it means to be a woman working in construction, how careers grow within large utility organizations, and what the day-to-day of working in energy services actually looks like. Then came the site tour.
The group visited S&S Dairy, where they saw firsthand how methane is captured from dairy waste, sealed in massive digesters, and ultimately converted into renewable natural gas distributed to PG&E customers across the region. From there, they moved to the Aemetis ethanol plant, where they walked through the process of turning corn into fuel and met the engineers and managers who run the operation every day. They saw the science. They smelled the yeast. They asked real questions of real people who had built careers in this industry, in their own backyard.
“Being able to see those with boots on the ground and really tour the facilities,” reflected Julie Miller, CAPS’ program manager, “it just provides so much endless insight.”
One student captured it directly in a post-program survey: “Getting to visit Aemetis and learn more about it, while being physically present, really sparked my interest in sustainability and renewable gases, making me eager to learn more.”
The survey results confirmed it more broadly. Students who arrived with vague interests in sustainability left with specific career goals. Two students specifically named renewable natural gas as the field they want to enter. Many others sharpened their sense of direction in ways that will shape the next decade of their lives.
Credentials That Open Doors
The summer program also marked a milestone for CAPS in Stanislaus County: all 20 students completed a series of five courses through the Manufacturing Skills Institute (MSI), earning an energy certificate spanning Energy Management Best Practices, Electricity Generation and Distribution, HVAC and Indoor Air Quality, and Lean to Green Metrics. All 20 participants reported in an anonymous survey that the coursework effectively complemented their summer learning and project work. It was the first time CAPS had incorporated MSI credentialing into its Stanislaus County programming, and it was made possible by Stanislaus 2030’s support.
Kirk Anne Taylor, CAPS’ executive director, was thoughtful about what that means in practice. Credentials matter, she explained, but not in isolation. The real value is how they layer onto lived experience. Stanislaus 2030 has pushed the team to keep asking the harder question: do employers actually value this specific credential? The answer, consistently, is that experience matters most.
“It gives you insight on things you may not get in a classroom,” Kirk Anne noted. “It gives you an opportunity to make more connections from what you learned in live training. And it’s potentially another piece you could put on a resume to show you’re taking initiative in an area that industry values.”
A student who has toured a biogas facility, asked real questions of an engineer, and delivered a technical presentation to industry professionals is already ahead. The certificate is one more thing they carry forward.
Building the Network Students Deserve
One of the quieter but more consequential things CAPS does is connect students to professional networks they would not otherwise have access to. After the summer program, students were exchanging LinkedIn profiles with engineers and directors they had met at TID and Aemetis. They left with real contacts they can reach out to for internships, referrals, and guidance as they figure out next steps.
“Every one of these students is being given an opportunity that they really wouldn’t have any other way,” Kirk Anne said, “that gives them a leg up in exactly the qualification that employers are talking about: experience.”
CAPS is working to sustain those relationships beyond the program itself through a growing alumni network that continues to connect graduates with industry opportunities, peer connections, and professional development as they move into college or directly into the workforce. The goal is a pipeline, not just a program, one that keeps working for students long after the internship ends.
Recruitment reflects the same inclusive philosophy. CAPS does not filter for students who already know what sustainability is. What the team looks for in applications is curiosity and willingness to show up.
“I want to see students that could say, I’m not sure what climate action is, but I want to learn,” Julie explained. “I want to know how to serve my community. I want to become more involved.”
In Modesto last year, 180 students applied for 11 spots, a testament to how quickly word spreads when a program genuinely delivers. Former interns serve as spokespeople, going into classrooms and sharing what the experience was really like, in their own words, to students who look like them.
What Stanislaus 2030 Made Possible
Before Stanislaus 2030’s support, distributed in partnership with Stanislaus County Workforce Development, CAPS was working with Modesto City Schools and building momentum in the region. The investment opened new doors.
It expanded CAPS into Ceres and Turlock Unified, giving more students across the county access to paid, career-connected learning across both the school year and summer. It funded the development of lesson plans that makes the local economy visible and relevant to young people. It supported the MSI certification component, giving all 20 summer graduates a portable, industry-aligned credential to carry forward. And it connected CAPS to a broader ecosystem of aligned organizations, all working toward overlapping goals within Stanislaus County.
Stanislaus 2030 also shared youth focus group findings gathered through its community engagement work, helping the CAPS team understand how young people in this region see their futures and what they need from programs like this to feel seen and supported.
“We don’t need to go it alone,” Kirk Anne reflected. “And we can help support a broader group of students along their pathway if we’re working in collaboration with others.”
On the horizon, CAPS is building toward something even larger. In 2024, CAPS received a $500,000 grant from California’s Opportunity Youth Apprenticeship initiative to develop a registered Youth Apprenticeship in Sustainability: a formal pathway from paid internship to apprenticeship to credential to skilled career, developed in partnership with the State’s Division of Apprenticeship Standards. The work being done in Stanislaus County today is laying the groundwork for that next chapter.
What These Students Are Capable Of
The last word belongs to what happened at the end of the summer program, when each student group delivered final presentations to a room of industry professionals, district representatives, and Aemetis and TID staff. Each group had researched a specific question about biogas, renewable energy, or the circular economy and presented their findings to the people who work in this industry every day.
Students who had been visibly nervous at the start of the program walked in with poise. They fielded technical questions. They guided their audiences through complex material with clarity and confidence.
“They go from absolute horror with that idea,” Julie said, “to complete confidence that’s just so tangible in the room. They walk in with so much pride.”
Every time this happens, she added, it is still a surprise. And every time, the people in the room leave inspired.
Kirk Anne captured it simply: these are young people from communities that industry has not always looked to, doing work that industry needs done, proving in real time that the talent was always there. It just needed an on-ramp.
That is what Stanislaus 2030 is investing in. Not just exposure to manufacturing and green jobs, but young people who discover what they are capable of and carry that confidence into every room they walk into for the rest of their lives.
Climate Action Pathways for Schools (CAPS) is a Stanislaus 2030 grantee partner working across Modesto City Schools, Ceres Unified, and Turlock Unified School Districts. To learn more about CAPS and its programs, visit climateactionpathways.org.
