California has long needed more health-care workers, and the coronavirus pandemic only made the demand more pressing. 

Filling the gap is the goal of a unique joint venture that creates certificate programs to recruit and train Californians to work as medical technicians, medical coders, and other allied health professionals. 

Frank Williams and Mercy Pigman are among the thousands of successful Job Corps alumni now working in their chosen careers and leading middle-class lives. 

Some, like Williams, ascend the ranks in a trade, and others, like Pigman, complete a certificate program and move into a traditional community college or four-year institution for an undergraduate degree or higher.

A haze of smoke rests on Lake Tahoe Community College as the Caldor fire makes its way into the Lake Tahoe Basin. The scene is a far cry from the triumphant return to campus that school leaders anticipated after the college operated remotely for more than a year because of COVID-19.

Some California community colleges now find themselves struggling to meet the needs of students as multiple fires continue to spread across the state during the start of an already fraught academic year. In addition to supporting students, staff and faculty members, many colleges are also having to shelter affected residents of communities near the campuses.