If Chris Bell sticks with his studies at Sacramento City College, the 21-year-old will go to work on the railroad as an assistant conductor by June.

Karla Green, a 36-year-old divorced mother of two, is tracking toward a new career, too, as she finishes her final semester in veterinary technology at Cosumnes River College.

And Sandy Brien, 46, recently marked her first year as a small business owner after opening a retail shop with the guidance of Sierra College business consultants.

Increasingly, community colleges are training much of the nation's work force and assisting laid-off and mid-career professionals who need or want a new career.

The schools - which serve 10 million students nationally using far more modest budgets than four-year public universities do - won praise from President Bush last month in his State of the Union address.

Community college educators have been abuzz ever since, welcoming the high-profile attention for their role in training people like Bell and Green for jobs and fostering economic development like Brien's new shop.

In 2001, for instance, more than 60 percent of applicants who took the national exam to become registered nurses had graduated from community colleges, according to the American Association of Community Colleges in Washington, D.C. Sixty-five percent of other health-care workers like paramedics and medical assistants were trained in community college programs, while 80 percent of the nation's police officers and firefighters are graduates of the two-year schools.

It's true in the Sacramento region also, where Sierra College and the four campuses that make up the Los Rios Community College District are churning out growing numbers of nurses, police officers and firefighters, along with other professionals who range from auto mechanics to nutritionists.

Though the plug from the president was a boost, community college educators aren't certain any of the $250 million that Bush has pledged to invest in community colleges and job training will trickle down to the programs they offer at home.

"At the very least what's encouraging is that we are on the administration's radar screen," said Sierra College President Kevin Ramirez. "There is recognition that we play a critical role in creating jobs and training people for jobs.

"But whether $250 million can do much when spread across more than 1,000 community colleges in the country is another matter," he said.

Dozens of programs are already in place in the Sacramento region and produce many of the local dental hygienists, veterinary technician and paramedics. The same is true for computer administrators and correctional officers.

Community colleges are grooming lesser-known professionals as well, from railroad conductors to phlebotomists, and the schools are offering free or low-cost help to people who want to start, expand or shape up their businesses.

Last school year, Sacramento City, American River and Cosumnes River colleges issued nearly 6,000 certificates and associate degrees in career education. Sierra College awarded more than 2,000 for programs designed to put people to work in jobs that don't require the time, expense and academic standards of getting a four-year university degree.

At Sacramento City College this semester, Bell and 30 other students are enrolled in a program to learn the skills of a railroad conductor. This month they are novices, learning railroad history. In April, they'll be driving trains out of the depot in Old Sacramento.

By June, all could have a job with a major railroad operator like Amtrak, Union Pacific, CSX or Burlington Northern Santa Fe, said Joe Armstrong, an instructor and dean of City College's technology program.

Armstrong, a retired engineer with Union Pacific, said the railroad industry has roughly 8,000 job openings across the United States and average starting salaries between $60,000 and $70,000.

"The need is huge right now, because the industry is going through a wave of retirements," Armstrong said. "There are 8,000 jobs, and I'm training only 20 to 30 per semester."

As Armstrong sees it, the railroad program meshes perfectly with President Bush's vision that community colleges are best positioned to prepare the large numbers of workers for industries that need them.

"I think this is exactly what the president is talking about," he said. "We train and move these students right into jobs."

Bell, who has been working for minimum wage in warehouses, hopes he will land one of those jobs. A four-year college degree wasn't for him; he needed full-time work. But he still wanted stability and a decent income.

"I really want to get into a job that can be a career for me," said Bell.

Green shares that hope. Working in medical offices doing billing and other jobs wasn't fulfilling for her. So, after her divorce, the mother of two decided to sign up for "vet tech" school and finally achieve her long-time wish to work with animals.

One of Green's instructors at Cosumnes River College said demand for her skills is high.

"Right now, there are two doctors for every technician, and it should be the other way around," said Cheryl Buch.

In a little over two years, Green has learned to suture, splint and cast broken bones, remove teeth, administer some anesthesia and other complicated medical, surgical and therapeutic procedures.

When Green and a dozen of her classmates at Cosumnes River College finish this spring, they will take a state exam to become registered veterinary technicians and more than likely, be snapped up by local animal clinics and veterinarians.

Their pay will not be great, however. On average, said Kathryn Graham, a veterinarian who oversees the program at CRC, veterinary technicians starting out in the Sacramento region earn between $9 and $10 per hour.

"It's a labor of love more than a money maker," said Graham, who believes that as demand for better animal care continues to rise among pet owners, the wages for registered veterinary technicians will move up.

Green knew that her income wasn't likely to improve, but "the potential for a more satisfying career is much greater."

For Brien, finding professional bliss entailed opening her own business. Less than two years ago, she was a collector and user of artistic rubber stamps. Now, she owns a shop that sells rubber stamps and offers classes to hobbyists and artists like her.

With guidance from Sierra College consultants at the Small Business Development Center in Auburn, Brien refined a business plan and found space in a Roseville shopping center to open her shop. She used consultants from the small business center to advise her on how to set up her space and market her products.

Their advice cost her nothing.

"It was a big step for me to become a business owner," Brien said. "But so far, it's working well. I just became a boss for the first time and hired someone part-time."

A.J. Zissler, acting program manager of the Sierra College business center, said Brien was one of 662 would-be entrepreneurs and small business owners in six counties that used the center's consulting services in 2003.

Operating on a $250,000 budget that comes from state and federal grants, most of the finance, marketing and management services and advice dispensed by consultants at the center is free.

Though she has no statistics to track them, Zissler said growing numbers of workers laid off from jobs at technology companies such as Hewlett-Packard and NEC Electronics in Roseville are coming to the center to ask about opening businesses.

"A lot of these people have been through the layoff experience and now want to be self-employed," she said.

The greatest potential for many of these displaced workers, said Zissler, is to start businesses and hire others to work, too.

That's exactly what Lyn Greenhill has done. An engineer who worked for Honeywell and Aerojet, the 51-year-old started out as one-man company in 1995. He has tapped advice from the small business development center ever since and now employs seven other people.

"I'm an engineer, but I was clueless about the business side," said Greenhill, whose DynaTech Engineering offers expertise and consulting for manufacturers, companies and government agencies that use motors, turbines, generators and other rotating machinery. The company is working to launch a software product to solve vibration problems on rotating machinery, a move that could lead to bigger profits and maybe even more jobs, Greenhill said.

"Right now, we do about $500,000 a year," Greenhill said. "We could turn this into a $10 million to $20 million business."