Local Policy Resources
In Buffalo, Green For All Launches a Policy Proposal to Green the CRA
If you've been poking around our website lately, you have probably seen something about the convening we just hosted with PUSH Buffalo in Buffalo, New York about how the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) can help financial institutions support green jobs programs. Well, now that the convening is over, we are happy to say that it was a wonderful success.
New Orleans Rally: Standing Together for a Clean Energy Future
As Green For All's team on the ground in New Orleans covers the unfolding Gulf Coast Catastrophe, all over the nation people are calling for a clean, green economy that makes it makes it possible for people to have dignified work that also protects their health and the health of communities.
Opportunity in Disaster
The recent oil spill in the Gulf Coast has added yet another challenge to the recovery in New Orleans, even though much progress has been made following the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina.
Retrofit Ramp-Up Awards Announced! $452 million for large-scale energy efficiency retrofits.
On Wednesday, Vice President Biden got a head start on Earth Day by announcing the winners of the Recovery Act “Retrofit Ramp-Up” Awards. Congratulations to the winners of the grants, which will help bring energy efficiency retrofit projects to scale in 25 communities across the country!
Clean Energy Works Portland Report
Green For All's report details why Clean Energy Works Portland has such special appeal. The program includes a revolving loan fund with innovative "on-bill financing" and a Community Workforce Agreement that creates jobs in the communities that need them most.
JFYNetWorks training ranges from brownfields to green jobs
Since 1976, JFYNetWorks has helped more than 50,000 youth and adults throughout the state of Massachusetts earn high school credentials, acquire marketable job skills, and find career-ladder employment in growth industries. The community-based organization targets out-of school youth, career changers, immigrants, and the underemployed.
Green Cities: a Living Cities Report
"Green Cities: How Urban Sustainability Efforts Can and Must Drive America's Climate Change Policies." This report is an effort by Living Cities to showcase and support the innovative ways in which cities are creating an equitable green economy.
California Youth Energy Services
Teenagers working with California Youth Energy Services are turning urban neighborhoods into greener, healthier places to live by offering residents simple energy-saving repairs and advice.
American YouthWorks
In Central Texas, where 36 percent of teens drop out of high school, American YouthWorks gives at-risk youth in Austin ’s poorest neighborhoods a second chance, offering hands-on training in green construction and conservation along with academic classes for a high school diploma.
Greencorps Chicago
Greencorps Chicago Prepares Ex-Offenders For The Green Economy. As a program of the city government, Greencorps Chicago bridges the most economically-disadvantaged people with the nascent green economy of the region, by providing paid nine-month training programs in diverse environmental trades.
Bay Area Women Growing Green Businesses, Creating Healthy Jobs
Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, WAGES (Women’s Action to Gain Economic Security) works to build worker-owned green businesses that create healthy, dignified jobs for low-income immigrant women. Over the past decade, WAGES has built three successful green‑housecleaning cooperatives that have given hundreds of women the opportunity to become financially secure, gain business skills, and lead healthier, fuller lives.
Building Workplace Democracy and Green Industry in the Bronx
Green Worker Cooperatives has worked since 2003 to build worker-owned green industry across the South Bronx. In early 2008, after years of fundraising, education, and building ties with the local community, the organization opened its first cooperative: Rebuilder's Source, which collects and markets waste construction supplies for re-use.
Urban Farmers in Chicago
Using the context of an organic agriculture venture, Growing Home’s mission is to foster life- and job-skill training in a transitional employment program for previously incarcerated, homeless, and low-income Chicagoans.
Newark Neighborhood Revitalization Effort Trains Green-Collar Workers
The Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District (LPCCD) is a Community Development Corporation transforming a low-income neighborhood in Newark into an arts and cultural district. The arts and cultural district will include 300 "green" mixed-income housing units, music festivals, historic restoration projects and the Museum of African American Music. There will be over one-million square feet of development, including sixteen USGBC LEED Certified buildings and participation in the USGBC LEED-Neighborhood Development pilot program.
Chicago, A Green-Collar Jobs Pioneer
Mayor Richard Daley has declared his intention of transforming Chicago into the "the greenest city in America" - and green jobs are a key component of this effort. For the last 12 years, Chicago has administered a green-collar job training program called "GreenCorps Chicago." Over the course of 9 months, program participants - primarily ex-offenders - receive training in one of four separate tracks: landscaping and urban gardening; computer refurbishing and recycling; household hazardous waste handling; and home weatherization. While receiving training, participants give back by building community gardens or refurbishing computers for underprivileged residents.
Wilbur Wright College Trains Workers in Building Energy Technologies
Wilbur Wright College (one of the City Colleges of Chicago) developed, accredited, and, in the fall of 2006 began offering a six-course, 21-credit hour Occupational Certificate in Building Energy Technologies (BET). During curriculum development, learning objectives and topics were suggested by a focus group of professionals in the sustainable construction sectors (architects, energy engineers, organized labor, construction contractors, etc.) The intent was to address labor market needs identified within the booming green building field in the Chicagoland area. The initial target student population was incumbent workers in the construction industry and trades. This project was funded through grants from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
Chicago Organizations Launch Green-Collar Jobs Initiative
The Chicagoland Green Collar Jobs Initiative was founded in September 2007 and is a collaboration of sustainable and educational organizations whose focuses include: workforce development, sustainable business initiatives, labor, environmental education and green building leaders. The founding groups are, LEED Council, Chicago Sustainable Business Alliance, Wilbur Wright College, Chicago Federation of Labor- Workers Assistance Committee, City of Chicago - Department of Environment, Delta Institute, Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, US Green Building Council - Chicago Chapter, BIG: Blacks in Green. Other organizations have joined this initiative as information about its activities have become more widespread.
Sustainable South Bronx: Green Jobs, Not Jails
Sustainable South Bronx connects poverty alleviation with the environment in ways that benefit both concerns. Their Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training program has successfully moved people from welfare into living wage green-collar jobs for 4 years, while SSBx concurrently advocates policies that fuel demand for those jobs.
New Orleans Reconstruction Corps to Create Green Pathways out of Poverty Starting in March '08
Starting in March '08, 800 young people will begin as full-time corps members in the New Orleans Reconstruction Corps reducing energy consumption in homes and buildings, improving public spaces and restoring the natural environment in the Greater New Orleans area. Mostly court-involved, formerly incarcerated youth, the corps members will gain experience through their service on a path to employment in the green economy. Service is the centerpiece of a program model that includes formal working partnerships with justice agencies, employers, and other community agencies; individual case management and intensive services; life-skills development, education, and employment preparation - and meaningful service projects.
Cooling Roofs and Creating Opportunities in Baltimore
Full-time service can act as a stepping-stone in green pathways out of poverty. Service and conservation corps like Civic Works train youth in green construction and weatherization, with the goal of linking them to good jobs in the green economy. B'more Green, one of Civic Works' initiatives, is an innovative job-training program designed to prepare unemployed or underemployed Baltimore residents for entry level careers in the field of environmental technology. Upon completion, graduates receive assistance with securing jobs that build on their training.
