The Green For All Policy Team
The Green For All Policy Team
To build a clean energy economy for the 21st century, we need contributions from every sector of America — the private sector, civil society and government. Green For All’s policy team tackles the latter, advocating for public policies that will create quality jobs, improve the reach and effectiveness of job training, and expand entrepreneurial opportunities in the emerging green economy — especially for people from disadvantaged communities.
Our policy team works with other stakeholders to influence government policy at every level: local, state and federal.
Federal Policy
Green For All has been active in federal policy since launching in 2007. One of the first things we did was help lead the charge for the groundbreaking Green Jobs Act of 2007, which authorized $125 million per year from the federal government to train workers for jobs in a range of green industries. Since then, we have partnered with other organizations and key legislators to make America’s climate, energy and economic policies as strong as possible.
THE RECOVERY ACT: Green For All successfully advocated for increased funding for green job training within the Recovery Act of 2009. Now we’re working at the state and local level to make sure that implementation of the Act lives up to President Obama’s vision for a green and equitable economic renewal.
THE CLIMATE BILL: Climate policy can create millions of jobs that lift people out of poverty — if it is well designed. Green For All successfully pushed the U.S. House of Representatives to include key provisions creating economic opportunity for vulnerable communities in its climate legislation. But the House fell short in other key areas, and the Senate has yet to pass a bill. We have work to do before we have federal climate policy that is good for people and good for the planet.
THE CLIMATE EQUITY ALLIANCE: Green For All helps lead the Climate Equity Alliance, a broad partnership pushing for strong climate legislation that protects and provides opportunity for low- and moderate-income communities. The Climate Equity Alliance includes organizations from the research, advocacy, faith-based, labor, and civil rights communities.
SERVE AMERICA ACT: Green For All has long advocated the creation of green service opportunities as an entry point to sustainable career paths in green industry. The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act of 2009 takes that task to heart, creating the Clean Energy Service Corps program and ushering in a new era of green community service.
State Policy
Increasingly, states are taking it upon themselves to make America more energy efficient. Green For All is helping them do it by advising state-level policymakers on their green jobs and energy efficiency initiatives. We also bring policymakers together with environmental and social justice advocates, ensuring they have access to the best thinking from these important communities. Green For All has been a key advocate in shaping groundbreaking green jobs legislation in Washington State, New Mexico, Texas and Pennsylvania. In addition to helping craft new policies, Green For All works with states to implement and improve existing policies, ensuring that they are more inclusive, better serve historically marginalized communities, and have higher environmental standards.
Local Policy
At the local level, Green For All supports and works with government, community, labor, education and business leaders to develop and implement green jobs policies and programs. Our Cities Initiative is helping local leaders turn their cities into models of green economic prosperity for the entire country to look to. We help practitioners connect with policy and community leaders, lift up best practices, and highlight successful models to expand the green economy. We also provide technical assistance, policy/program guidance, and other resources to policymakers and community organizations building green economies at the state and local levels.
