Gearing Up for the Green Economy: The Indianapolis Electrical Training Institute and IBEW Local 481
Earning the title “Indianapolis Green Technician” means more than simply passing a certification exam. The first graduates of the Green Technician training program also built and installed an array of solar panels and a wind turbine at the Electrical Training Institute (ETI), where the program is offered. This renewable energy, a testament to the ETI’s emphasis on practical, hands-on experience, will power the Institute’s future training efforts.
The Power of One: Tracy Hall Brings Renewable Energy to Northwest Indiana
Tracy Hall of Munster, Indiana has been an electrician for 30 years. He is among the thousands of construction trades workers hit by the current recession, who have seen unemployment in the trades rise to almost 25 percent nationally. But Hall hasn’t had time to sit around getting depressed about the state of the economy. Instead, he’s spent the time when work has been scarce developing a new expertise. As the only union worker in Indiana who is certified as a solar photovoltaic installer by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners, and a LEED Accredited Professional by the U.S. Green Building Council, he has become one of Northwest Indiana’s most knowledgeable renewable energy technicians. Read more
Stephanie Skubiak Sees Insulation Work Heating Up As California Goes Green
Stephanie Skubiak used to be a bookkeeper. But she hated sitting at a desk all day long and didn’t like the size of her paycheck either. So Skubiak enrolled in an apprenticeship program to learn how to become an insulator. Thousands of hours of classroom time and paid on-the-job training later, she is now a worker in the green economy. Read more
California Brings Green Job Training to High Schools
The campus of Oakland Tech High School in Oakland, Calif., is quiet now that summer has officially arrived. But in early June, it buzzed with activity as seniors prepared to graduate, other students submitted their final projects, and the maiden class of the school’s new “Green Academy” wrapped up its first year. Read more
Evergreen Cooperatives Forge an Innovative Path toward High-Quality Green Jobs
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| Photo credit: Janet Century |
How can we make sure green jobs are good jobs? One approach to this much discussed question is to make green jobs union jobs, which typically offer higher wages and better benefits than non-union jobs. Another is to require that contractors who receive public funding for green projects pay their workers family supporting wages and provide health insurance. In Cleveland, Ohio, a new and different path is being forged toward high-quality, green jobs—through worker-owned cooperatives, where the workers are not only being paid well, but also can accumulate wealth for themselves and their communities as partial owners of profitable green businesses. Read more
Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice
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| DWEJ students gaining hands-on experience at Corporate College on Wayne County Community College District’s Eastern Campus |
DETROIT – Michigan-based Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice (DWEJ) is a nonprofit that has been working in the environmental and social justice space since 1994. In 2007, DWEJ launched its Green Jobs Workforce Training Program with the intent of creating a skilled workforce that will help Detroit become more attractive to a new, but growing industry, according to DWEJ Green Jobs Director Roshani Dantas. The program, which originated with the Environmental Protection Agency-funded brownfield cleanup training that DWEJ has offered since 1995, is considered a model for combining soft- and hard-skills training. Read more
Wisconsin Models Workforce Development Partnerships
The Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership (WRTP)/Building Industry Group Skilled Trades Employment Program (BIG STEP) is one of the nation’s preeminent labor-led sector partnerships. Working with unions, businesses, community groups and the public workforce system, WRTP/BIG STEP has helped thousands of Milwaukee-area workers – often low-income or unemployed women and people of color – grow their skills and find good jobs while also helping dozens of local employers connect to the skills and workers they need. Read more
San Diego Creates Green Pathways Out of Poverty
During a campaign speech last year, President Obama made a promise that the United States would weatherize at least 1 million low-income homes each year for the next decade. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act took the first steps toward making that promise a reality by including $5 billion to expand the Weatherization Assistance Program, a move that has the potential to create over 78,000 jobs in the construction industry each year, according to the Department of Energy, and generate huge demand for workers with specific technical knowledge of energy efficiency. Read more
Watch out, Wal-Mart–Wind Manufacturing is the New Kid on the Block in Arkansas
Watch out, Wal-Mart. When it comes to the Arkansas economy, there’s a new kid on the block: wind energy manufacturing. “Since we’ve targeted wind, we’ve had five manufacturers locate in the state, and they’ve invested a total of $370 million and created about 2,900 jobs,” said Scott Hardin of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. Read more
Massachusetts Apollo Wins Key Victory
On Oct. 27, Massachusetts solidified its leadership in tackling climate change and creating good jobs by adopting a $1.4 billion plan to improve residential energy efficiency in working class communities. The Green Justice Coalition, an Apollo Alliance chapter comprised of community, labor and environmental groups, spearheaded the campaign to bring equity and economic development into the state’s three-year utility plans. Read more
