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Green Collar Workforce
Campaign for NY's Future
NYC Apollo Alliance
Monthly Updates

Update — August 2009

 

Dear colleagues,

Seems like everyone is talking about green jobs these days. The question is, how do we make sure the talk about green jobs is more than just rhetoric. How do we ensure that all green jobs are good jobs, accessible to all New Yorkers. At Urban Agenda we believe the Green Collar Jobs Roundtable is fundamentally important to realizing this goal. It's not been easy but I'm happy to report that we've made some real progress. The multi-stakeholder Roundtable finalized its Vision Statement and will release its Roadmap to good, green collar jobs in October. If your organization has not yet endorsed the Vision Statement, we hope you will consider doing so at our Endorse webpage.

Richard Ravitch I also want to congratulate our 2009 Visionary Award winner Richard Ravitch on being appointed as Lieutenant Governor for New York. Mr. Ravitch has a long history of civil service and a deep commitment to social justice. If anyone can help Albany get through this impasse, we believe he can.

Thank you for your continued support,

Joanne Derwin
Executive Director


FEATURED PARTNER

Lavon Chambers and Laborers' Local 10

Lavon Chambers is the Community Affairs Representative for Laborers' Local 10. Local 10 is a new union in New York City and Long Island representing workers in the residential construction and energy efficiency industries. Local 10 is committed to creating green pathways out of poverty, working with community-based organizations, and building quality affordable housing. It is an affiliate of the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) - a diverse union of over half a million skilled, trained construction workers.

Liz Weiner

Lavon and Local 10 are working to ensure that residential construction creates good union jobs for communities most in need. Through community-based partnerships, Lavon recently brought dozens of men and women of color from all over New York City into Local 10's pilot Green Job Training Program. He has been with Local 10 since its inception two years ago and with LIUNA for over 13 years. This commitment to the union, he says, is not just about creating jobs. "Local 10 gives me the opportunity to bridge the two things I love doing most - getting people good jobs and strengthening communities."

In addition to his work with Local 10, Lavon is an executive board member of the Mason Tenders District Council PAC and the Greater New York Laborers Employers Cooperation and Education Trust. He has been on the board of Urban Agenda since 2008. "When you work with Urban Agenda and the NYC Apollo Alliance, you come in contact with important organizations that you wouldn't otherwise meet. Because of them, we have the allies we need to do our jobs right."



Urban Agenda Participates in Green For All Webinar

On July 16, Urban Agenda was one of three organizations that gave a webinar presentation for Green For All's Community of Practice series. The webinar focused on community-led efforts to make energy efficiency retrofit work a cornerstone of the green economy, and ensure that this work provides pathways out of poverty, family-sustaining wages, and safe working conditions for low-income and disadvantaged communities of color. Importantly, the webinar aimed to illustrate concrete examples of how building a broad based coalition of labor unions, policy makers, nonprofits, and community members can tie in the needs of low-income and disadvantaged communities with citywide goals for a greener economy based on clean energy and economic justice.

Urban Agenda discussed energy efficiency measures in New York City. The two other organizations that presented at the webinar were GTECH Strategies, who discussed Pittsburgh's Coordinated Weatherization Campaign, and Working Partnerships USA, who spoke about their Green Careers Initiative in Silicon Valley.

For more information, please visit Green For All.


SPOTLIGHT

American Clean Energy and Security Act

The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), currently only a House bill, sets forth a reform of U.S. climate and energy policy towards lower emissions and a sustainable clean technology future, with the promise of new industries and millions of new jobs. The bill will establish a market-based cap and trade system to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Under the system, a national emissions limit will be set, and allowances, which are permits to emit a given amount of greenhouse gases, will be distributed to polluting industries. Emitters can sell and buy allowances from each other to meet the declining national emissions limit, which will create a market incentive for reducing emissions, and drive investment in clean technology.

ACES will require emitters receiving allowances under ACES to comply with Davis-Bacon - a statute requiring employers to pay prevailing wages. It will also use allowances and proceeds from their sale to moderate the potential negative effects of the emissions cap on workers and emitters, and encourage energy efficiency. Funds will go towards workforce training and development in clean energy, energy efficiency, and sustainable environmental practices. Provisions also exist to provide financial compensation to protect low- and moderate-income families in particular from cost increases associated with the Act.

See: Drum Major Institute for Public Policy.

Read: American Clean Energy And Security Act of 2009.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Recovery Act Green Job Training Grants

The Department of Labor has just announced the Recovery Act Green Job Training Grants. A summary of the available grants and application deadlines is available from the Workforce Alliance.