Tags: california, job training, green jobs, government funding

Categories: News

A San Francisco supervisor is at odds with SolarCity over the installer's promise to create a job training program in a low-income neighborhood, a conflict that highlights the city's struggle to create "green" jobs and protect local businesses.

Supervisor Chris Daly is pressing SolarCity to fulfill the pledge it made in April 2008 when it was persuading San Francisco political leaders to pass what became the city-funded GoSolarSF program, which the city touted as the largest municipal solar program in the country (see San Francisco Solar Incentive Becomes Official).

In a committee meeting last week, Daly asked SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive why he hasn't created a job training program in the Bayview-Hunters Point area. Daly, who didn't vote for the GoSolarSF program, said he wanted to keep SolarCity accountable given that its promise influenced the final vote.

"The training academy was dangled in front of us as an incentive to vote for the pilot solar incentive program," Daly said at the meeting (see Nov. 5 video recording). "I'm trying to figure out how to deliver promises that were made." 

Rive said the company had to put the plan to create a job training program on hold because of the financial market collapse last fall, which prompted SolarCity to freeze hiring and suspend other business plans.

Since business has improved this year, SolarCity has re-launched its effort to provide job training, Rive said. Given the feedback it has received from the community, SolarCity is working on supporting an existing job program rather than creating its own, Rive added.

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Tags: california, job training, green jobs, government funding

Categories: News

(Alexandria, VA) – October 5, 2009 – With the rise of “green jobs” and an increased focus on training for green industries, the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) has created a tool for learning and development professionals who are tasked with helping their organizations develop increased sustainability and ecologically intelligent practices. ASTD is the world’s largest association dedicated to the training and development field and leads the profession by providing practical resources that can be quickly deployed in the workplace.

Happy Learning!

Tags: green training, green jobs, green business, training resources

Categories: Government

(From triplepundit.com) If a new green jobs program unveiled by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Monday has its intended effect, lack of ability will no longer stand in the way of many Californians’ efforts to join the green work force. The $75 million plan would train more than 20,000 workers for jobs in the clean energy sector, thereby somewhat alleviating (in theory) the state’s history-making unemployment rate. Yet I’m unconvinced: will these effects be a mere drop in the bucket called “California’s job market”?

Schwarzenegger revealed the plan in Los Angeles’ Trade-Technical College, the Los Angeles Times reports. The program is intended to train both young workers and the unemployed in green building design and weatherization and solar installation. A $20 million injection from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and funds from the California Energy Commission, community groups, and educational institutions, will fund the program.

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Tags: green jobs, training, skills, government, california

Categories: News

(From bizjournals.com) The Walmart Foundation has made a $550,000 donation to fund a six-week Conservation Leadership Corps program that will get Milwaukee-area high-school students involved in conservation efforts and give them some green-jobs training.

The Walmart Foundation, in partnership with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, awarded the funds from its Green Job Training Initiative to the Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board and the Student Conservation Corp.

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Tags: economy, green jobs, careers, milwaukee

Categories: The Economy

(From GreenBiz.com) Grant competitions opened today for $500 million in Recovery Act funds for training programs that will help retool the U.S. workforce for a clean energy economy.

Speaking in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis announced the availability of grants in five broad program areas that will prepare people for jobs in energy efficiency or renewable energy industries.

About $150 million in grants are earmarked for green job training programs that provide “pathways out of poverty,” and a portion of some $290 million in grants will go toward efforts to retrain workers from the hard-hit auto industry.

"These grants are an essential first step towards not just building America's clean energy economy, but making sure that every community gets to enjoy the benefits of that economy," Green For All CEO Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins said in a statement provided to GreenBiz.com.

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Tags: green jobs, training, skills, government

Categories: The Economy

The Austin Community College District and four other regional colleges have formed the Green Corridor Collaborative, a partnership aimed at attracting federal stimulus dollars to support workforce training programs.

As part of the collaborative agreement, the colleges have committed to expanding their green job workforce training programs.

The collaborative group — which of consists ACC, Alamo Colleges, Dallas County Community College District, Temple College and Texas State Technical College — announced its partnership June 25 at the Texas Association of Community Colleges office in downtown Austin.

ACC has programs and courses focused on providing training for renewable energy careers, such as its solar power panel installation program.

(Copyright 2009 bizjournals.com)

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Tags: green jobs, training, skills, colleges and universities

Categories: News

(DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press) WASHINGTON -- Some $4 billion from President Barack Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus plan that was budgeted to renovate public housing will be spent to create so-called "green jobs" by making the dwellings more energy efficient.

Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan was making the announcement Tuesday in Denver at a meeting of Obama's Middle Class Task Force.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, another task force member, also will announce that $500 million from the stimulus is becoming available to train workers for these jobs. That sum includes $50 million for communities battered by job losses and restructuring in the auto industry.

Both Donovan and Solis also were announcing that their departments are working together to make it easier for public housing residents to find training programs or a green job.

The task force, which includes several other Cabinet secretaries, has been working since January to highlight policies and practices to help improve the standard of living of the middle class, an income group that suffered as the economy faltered.

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Tags: economy, stimulus, training, green jobs

Categories: The Economy

Tags: training, green jobs, economy, stimulus

Categories: The Economy

(St. Petersburg Times) Companies across the country are spending more time focusing on creating and implementing "green" programs and jobs that will make their workplace more environmentally conscious. In fact, one in 10 employers say they have added "green jobs," otherwise known as environmentally focused positions, in the last 12 months, according to a new national survey of more than 2,500 hiring managers by CareerBuilder. The survey was conducted between Feb. 20 and March 11. 

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Tags: green jobs, training, workforce

Categories: News