Minnesota's budding cannabis industry is seeding new job opportunities before retail sales even begin, and local educational institutions are cultivating the future workforce. As reported by Fox9, St. Paul College has rolled out cannabis education programs, rivaling St. Cloud State, to bolster job seekers' prospects in the green market. Unlike any vocational course, these programs are prepping students for industries only freshly plucked from the realm of illegality.
"What typically we work with at the college is dislocated workers that are going through that sort of reentry process back into the job market," Brady Malecha, program manager at St. Paul College, told Fox9. Minnesota anticipates a job surge akin to Michigan's after recreational use was legalized, which saw 31,000 jobs sprout up. With the green wave cresting, Minnesotans like Andy Williams are turning over a new leaf. After swapping restaurant jobs for cannabis education, Williams saw about a 50% income bump - plus benefits.
Connecting students to the industry, CBS News Minnesota reports that Saint Paul College has partnered with Green Flower, a cannabis education company, to introduce three certification courses, essential for landing jobs. These programs cover retail, cultivation, and product development within the cannabis sector.
At just $750 a class, Saint Paul College is stripping down financial barriers and even offering payment plans, trying to make these programs accessible to all. "We're trying to take away as many barriers as we can for folks to get into this field," Malecha told CBS News Minnesota. The classes boast rolling enrollment and, after nine weeks, graduates gain access to a job portal, much like Indeed, setting them up for rapid employment. Meanwhile, medical cannabis opportunities are already ripe for the picking.
With the landscape of cannabis employment taking root and Minnesota's market set to flourish, education appears as the prime resource for those aspiring to join the green gold rush, right at the cusp of the state's sales licensing finalization. The college's forward-thinking approach is looking to bear fruit not just for the likes of Williams but for many Minnesotans following suit.
