A Bay area-based clean energy company wants to hire 300 workers from the Stockton area at a two-day job fair from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 9-10 at Stribley Community Center in south Stockton.

Bloom Energy will be at the Stockton Career fair hiring assembly technicians, team leads, material handlers and welders on the spot for their Sunnyvale and new Fremont locations. The clean energy company specializes in efficient, clean, onsite power supply — their proprietary solide oxide technology converts natural gas, biogas or hydrogen into electricity without combustion — producing low or no CO2 emissions.

Stockton city Councilmember Kimberly Warmsley, who led the effort locally to get Bloom Energy to town, said the jobs will start from $21 to $25 an hour with family health and dental benefits and a $3,000 sign-on bonus. Applicants must have the equivalent of a high school diploma and be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. There will be opportunities for career advancement and on the job training.

“This is more than just a job, this is an opportunity for Stocktonians to obtain a skillset for a long-lasting career in clean, renewable energy,” Warmsley said. “I want to encourage and empower residents to take this excellent opportunity very seriously.”

To make the trek to the bay, Bloom Energy will be providing shuttles or transportation allowances for those that need it. If the Stockton workforce grows to more than 300 — an opportunity for 500-plus jobs exists over the next year — Bloom Energy will provide buses to get to work, Warmsley said.

“This is an opportunity to make livable wages with livable benefits. If you just have to get on a bus to get to work, that’s a no brainer,” Warmsley said. “I think this is exactly what people need, especially now that we’re entering the endemic and people are getting back to work.”

For years the bay area has capitalized on Stockton and San Joaquin County’s comparably lower real estate prices, ranking the region among the fastest growing areas in California. Where Warmsley said Stockton typically gets the short end of the stick when it comes to the Bay Area, the Bloom Energy jobs are an opportunity for the city’s residents to leverage bay area resources to their benefit.

“Some of our most impoverished community members and residents live in south Stockton, and this is why the job fair was intentionally chosen to be held at Stribley, so south Stocktonians can easily access this job fair,” Warmsley said. “If we’re able to fill these 300 positions, this also shows potential companies that that Stocktonians are serious about working and we have the workforce to field potential projects they may be looking at Stockton for.”

The broker between Stockton and Bloom Energy was former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs, who is now special adviser for economic mobility and opportunity to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“I spent a lot of time as mayor thinking and working on how to connect Stockton to the economic ecosystems not too far away, particularly in things like climate and green technology,” Tubbs said. “It’s now a part of the strategy now that I’m working with the governor statewide, thinking how to link prosperity in other places to communities like Stockton, Fresno, Bakersfield — communities that really matter for the state but have been locked out of opportunity.”

Connecting Stockton to outside economic prosperity can also bear local fruit, Tubbs said.

"One of the biggest challenges facing Stockton at the crux of many issues is pervasive poverty and economic insecurity," Tubbs said. "Part of it is building these relationships. Eventually people will see, 'Oh, my workers don't have to come from Stockton, I can locate in Stockton.'"

Record reporter Ben Irwin covers Stockton and San Joaquin County government. He can be reached at birwin@recordnet.com or on Twitter @B1rwin. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow. 

This article originally appeared on The Record: Bloom Energy wants to hire 300 Stocktonians at Sept. 9-10 job fair