Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor announced $7.4 million in green jobs training grants to SEIU Local 32BJ and H-Cap, a national partnership of SEIU healthcare unions and major employers. These two grants are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and will provide essential green training to help 5,200 Americans get jobs in expanding green industries over the next two years.
Training Green building superintendents
SEIU 32BJ's Thomas Shortman Training Fund will receive $2.8 million to expand green buildings training in New York City. This grant, announced by Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, will help train 2,200 NYC building superintendents in energy efficiency through better operations & maintenance (O&M). Energy Efficient O&M can reduce building energy use by 10% at low capital cost, making it one of the cheapest and fastest ways to reduce energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions. Of the 2,200 superintendents that receive training under this grant, 200 of them will also have the opportunity to attend advanced building training through the City University of New York.
32BJ's Mike Fishman, the President of the largest building services workers union in the country:
"High-impact, cost-effective labor-management programs like 1,000 Green Supers are vital to the success of President Obama's energy and environmental protection agenda. With nearly 80 percent of New York's greenhouse gas emissions produced by buildings it's imperative for owners, workers, environmental groups and the federal government to jointly tackle this environmental challenge."
Previous posts on 32BJ's green training initiative can be found here and here. More information about this program can be found at www.1000supers.com.
Training service workers for Green Healthcare Jobs
The Healthcare Career Advancement Program's (H-CAP) $4.6 million green training grant will help create a new career ladder for 3,000 entry-level environmental service workers in four regions of the country: Los Angeles, Seattle, New York City, and the Baltimore/DC corridor. 1199SEIU and other Locals will serve as its lead partner to train and place workers in the health care field, and workers in environmental services (often called housekeepers) will learn methods for tracking and reducing the use of energy, water and waste.
Participants will also receive training in non-polluting cleaning technologies and have an opportunity to prepare academically for entry into more advanced and certified green occupations that are currently in development by their employers. Unemployed workers will receive pre-employment training in the new, green approach to environmental services. This project will support the green revolution in healthcare by reducing water and energy consumption and reducing the cost of waste disposal while making the healthcare industry a safer and healthier place for patients and workers alike.
Both DOL grants--32BJ's Green Buildings Initiative and H-CAP's training for emerging green jobs in the healthcare industry--are part of a larger Recovery Act initiative totaling $500 million to fund workforce development projects that promote economic growth by preparing workers for careers in the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries. "This funding is exactly what the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act is all about - creating and sustaining jobs today and preparing for the jobs of tomorrow," said Senator Mikulski (D-MD).
The DOL's announcement last Wednesday awarded a total of $100 million in grants to programs training workers for the green jobs of the future. On Friday, President Obama reiterated support for investing in clean energy technologies as part of his economic recovery package by announcing more than $2 billion in tax credits for clean energy manufacturing to stimulate "green" job growth. The President Obama also called for doubling the production of alternative energy and retrofitting more than 75 percent of federal buildings and 2 million homes in the U.S. over the next three years.
