A new wave of green jobs got a boost Wednesday with $100 million for training allocated by the U.S. Labor Department (DOL).
The training will focus on readying people for careers in the hybrid/electric car industry, weatherizing houses, wind and solar energy installation, and auditing.
Twenty-five projects will receive about $1.5 million each from the Recovery Act of 2009.
The limping auto industry will get about $28 million to help with restructuring; much will go to Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.
Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said in a statement that the announcement is part of the “administration’s long-term commitment to fostering both immediate economic revitalization and a clean energy future.”
The grants will support job training programs to help dislocated workers and others—including veterans, women, African Americans and Latinos. It will also find jobs in expanding green industries and related occupations, according to the DOL.
The effort aligns with the work Van Jones has been advocating as founder of the “Green For All” initiative, and as Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality for six months last year.
Jones married the two concepts of energy efficiency and creating jobs for minorities and in his Green For All mission.
Green For All CEO Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins applauded the new fund allocation.
“This money is designed to create jobs and the means to prepare a skilled workforce that is fundamental to lifting our country out of the economic and environmental crises,” said Ms. Ellis-Lamkins.
The non-profit Transportation Learning Center also announced Wednesday that $5 million allocated to the center from the money in a grant will provide training for 3,640 people in the public transport sector. The grant will help to “prepare new and incumbent workers to adequately maintain and operate the nation’s transit systems and the increasingly advanced green technologies in this critical industry,” the Center said in a statement.
The training will focus on readying people for careers in the hybrid/electric car industry, weatherizing houses, wind and solar energy installation, and auditing.
Twenty-five projects will receive about $1.5 million each from the Recovery Act of 2009.
The limping auto industry will get about $28 million to help with restructuring; much will go to Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.
Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said in a statement that the announcement is part of the “administration’s long-term commitment to fostering both immediate economic revitalization and a clean energy future.”
The grants will support job training programs to help dislocated workers and others—including veterans, women, African Americans and Latinos. It will also find jobs in expanding green industries and related occupations, according to the DOL.
The effort aligns with the work Van Jones has been advocating as founder of the “Green For All” initiative, and as Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality for six months last year.
Jones married the two concepts of energy efficiency and creating jobs for minorities and in his Green For All mission.
Green For All CEO Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins applauded the new fund allocation.
“This money is designed to create jobs and the means to prepare a skilled workforce that is fundamental to lifting our country out of the economic and environmental crises,” said Ms. Ellis-Lamkins.
The non-profit Transportation Learning Center also announced Wednesday that $5 million allocated to the center from the money in a grant will provide training for 3,640 people in the public transport sector. The grant will help to “prepare new and incumbent workers to adequately maintain and operate the nation’s transit systems and the increasingly advanced green technologies in this critical industry,” the Center said in a statement.
Questioning Union Involvement
Not everyone is in agreement with the fund distribution.
Many of the recipients are union organizations, and blogger Morgen Richmond calls the grants “blatant political pay-offs.” Richmond, who holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and writes a blog on politics for Verum Serum, said the remaining grant recipients are joint ventures between labor organizations, business or trade groups, and state or local government agencies.
“Which would seem to be a much more rational model to ensure that training funds are allocated in a way most beneficial to the broader community,” he said. “Not just for the benefit of union members.”
Richmond calculated from the proposals submitted that the $100 million will give less than 35,000 people some sort of training.
“For those individuals who do complete the training, how many of these will ever wind up in a job applying their new skills?”
The Department of Labor expects to release funding for two remaining green grant award categories over the next several weeks.
Many of the recipients are union organizations, and blogger Morgen Richmond calls the grants “blatant political pay-offs.” Richmond, who holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and writes a blog on politics for Verum Serum, said the remaining grant recipients are joint ventures between labor organizations, business or trade groups, and state or local government agencies.
“Which would seem to be a much more rational model to ensure that training funds are allocated in a way most beneficial to the broader community,” he said. “Not just for the benefit of union members.”
Richmond calculated from the proposals submitted that the $100 million will give less than 35,000 people some sort of training.
“For those individuals who do complete the training, how many of these will ever wind up in a job applying their new skills?”
The Department of Labor expects to release funding for two remaining green grant award categories over the next several weeks.
