Creating good jobs in a clean energy economy, especially where they are needed most.
Moderator: Sharon Murphy
Presenters: Robin Burke (Special Projects Manager, Youth Build), Sebrina Owens-Wilson (Transit Equity Campaign Director, Partnership for Working Families), Manish Vaze (Director of Organizing, SCOPE – LA (Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education), ChisWoolery (How$mart Kentucky Program Coordinator, MACED), Jaimie Worker (Policy Analyst, Center for Community Change).
Center for Community Change and Partnership for Working Families:
Jamie Worker: Work with grassroots groups across the country and help access job access and job access strategies across the country, especially to reduce carbon impact and promote clean energy.
How to maximize opportunities for access to high quality jobs for people in low income communities and communities of color
Jobs for a bright energy future
Bureau of Labor statisticsdefine “green jobs” as: jobs in businesses that produce goods and services that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources
Includes:
Renewable energyk, energy efficiency, etc.
Good jobs: Family sustaining wages and benefits, long term career track job opportunities, safety and skills training that leads to advancement, and opportunities for frontline workers and communities directly benefit
The empower Kentucky plan can establish requirementsof both contractors and local governments working on or receiving funds. Create grant programs to fund
Sebrina Owens Wilson:
Usually when folks are talking about investments they are talking about creating jobs, but usually only low wage jobs or not many jobs. We want job quality and access to jobs.
Job Quality: Project Labor Agreements are legally binding agreements that establish wages and benefits, safety training, and union jobs.
Prevailing and living wage plus benefits; employee vs. Independent Contractor Status; and make training the norm
Targeted and local hire requirements: local hire: geographic, defined by zip code
Targeted hire: specific populations:disadvantaged workers, love income, women, poc, etc.
Targeted and local hire requirements must be clearly defined and have goals, a well supported pipeline that includes pre apprenticeship programs, clearly defined roles and responsibilities and strong mechanisms for monitoring and enforcement
Apprenticeship utilization
First Source Referral
Responsible Contracting: require contractors and subcontractors to meet specific job access requirements and job
Sebrina Owens Wilson:
“You can’t always start with your ideal policy. Sometimes you have to start small to build the infrastructure for what comes next.” Talking about working in coalitions: “There’s so much at stake right now that we have to figure out how to build a shared vision and work towards the future. And if we do that, we can win big.”
Manish Vaze: “I’ve been learning a ton over the past few days and this is an exciting opportunity to come to Kentucky and learn about all the good work you are doing.”
SCOPE: organizes marginalized communities of color and poor and working class residents to ensure they have an equal voice in decision making processes and the pathways to realize opportunities for advancement
Since 2006, working at the intersection of climate, energy, and workforce policy in South Los Angeles.
Ten years ago they have noticed a trend and opportunity to connect low income black and brown communities with green jobs.
California is leading the way in climate policy for decades:
AB32: Global Warming Solutions (15% reduction if countered with business as usual)
SB350: Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act (2015)
SB32 Global Warming Solutions Act (2016)
It sounds progressive. California is an extremely rich state, but also an extremely poor state in a lot of different areas. There is a need for climate equity. Communities of color and low income families are predominately at the frontlines of both climate change and poverty. We need both organizing strategies and policy solutions. To make progress, we need to build a bigger and broader movement and build coalitions (esp. with labor).
Lessons from the great recession:
We need a more sustainable economy: opportunities for workers of all skill levels, more export oriented, low carbon, better funding for public sector work
There is a need for workforce planning to successfully transform the energy sector
We need to be vigilant to protect workers and ensure that we do not create conditions that pit their interests against our own
South LA is predominately African American and Latino and more African American voters; 1 in 3 South LA residents are 17 or younger; close to 43% of residents over 25 have less than a high school diploma; less than 11% hold a bachelor’s degree
Barriers to employment: lack of education/job training; past convictions; lack of driver’s license or access to transportation; lack of access to child care; hiring discrimination
Strategies to Win:
RePower LA: Utility Pre Craft Trainee Program: formed in 2011 in response to the impacts of the Great Recession and the City of LA”s unsustainable reliance on fossil fuels: Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power; IBEW Local 18; SCOPE; Los Angeles Alliance
The Organizing: 40 coalition members representing small business, workforce development, and environmental and community stakeholders
Door knocking, surveys, media outreach and mobilizations to build a constituency
Town hall meetings brought people together across the city
Utility pre craft trainee: Provides paid on the job training in the classroom and field; trainees provide no cost weatherization services to low income residents and businesses and LA unified school district. Within apprenticeship structure and proves certifications and credits; tutoring and civil service test prep
The main point is that we were able to win this, but the work continues. We are trying to create a sustainable program for folks for a real pipeline.
The Results: Upgraded over 5,000 homes; 7,000 businesses, more than a dozen schools; increase in EE investments; adopted guiding principles to ensure that ee investments create good jobs and benefits to struggling communities; trainee program has trained over 200 future utility workers; youth and community orgs are involved in outreach around EE programs
To scale up we need to climate and energy policy and strong workforce policies and programs to generate good job and training opportunities.
Best practice highlight is earn while you learn training programs: apprenticeship standards and certifications
Building a culture that moves people through a pipeline that earns while they learn
City Jobs Campaign: 5,000 jobs commitment won
Los Angles Equity Alliance: targeted investment in south la with jobs and work force development; access to health, cleaner air and reduction of toxisn in our environment; housing that is affordable and efficient; land use and community development; transit oriented development
Chris Woolery, MACED
Grant for over 2 million dollars for e-tech
We are missing diverse, sustainable local economies and MACED has created a program
Most people’s personal wealth is based on home ownership and we have poor housing stock and not enough access to it across the state.
EKY faces significant and unique challenges: most counties are economically distressed, markets are broken and lagging behind; and out migration
We are trying to develop an entrepreneurial ecosystem
Young people want green jobs: they want to make a good living and stay in the communities they love and have jobs that pay well and have meaning; Helps people in need and makes a ripple effect in the economy because folks spend money in the community; green jobs are local and can’t be outsourced and are growing
Over the next two years they are training 12 new energy interns. Still designing the program, but they will have 12 interns and pay them a living wage: earn as you learn. They will receive benefits as they learn and be certified. Hands on industry experience. They will get entrepreneurial training and general business skills. Then those who want to start a business, will get financing.
“I get to bring in twelve people who need this opportunity as badly as I did at one time.”
We are going to reach out to frontline communities.
Youth Build: Robin Burke
Eight vacant lots in Smoketown neighborhood. Neighborhood has gone through major transitions in the past six years. Youth Build bought this property and built a program in this neighborhood. Serve people below the poverty line who are working on getting their GED. Looking to overcome barriers in order to find well paying jobs that are combined with education. Working on green campus. The construction track is the primary vocation track. When recession happened they looked at new and different paths and nursing was a track (CNAs) and then were looking at conservation and environmental ed and are also doing culinary. They are going to have a solar installation training program to install training on the new campus and also train students to install solar panels. Will start in January. Five students and two trainers will start national training program to be certified to install solar panels. They can do the pilot project, but are now trying to figure out how to have a future, bigger, sustainable program. Will be available to students, Smoketown neighborhood, and larger Louisville.
“There is no going back. We are going to have solar.”
Reece Chenault: Sometimes as an organization with a social justice focus, it can be difficult to be in coalition with other orgs who are not so oriented. How do you get around those challenges?
SCOPE: initially identify principles of membership and then decide the right allies based on those principles. Not every ally is invited. Do an MOU based on aligned social justice and end product will look like so that when there is a controversial space and they can point to that.
Youth Build: Reminding at every meeting that “we are collaborating” because people have egos and we have conflict. Have group agreements and use them. Remind folks that we are working through conflict and we will transform it and overcome it. Remember we are all coming from different spaces. Not competitive anymore – we are collaborating.
“Community is not a place you go to. It’s something you create every time you go there.” Chris Woolery
Elsa at Center for Community Change: remember self interest of each ally and our workers and community members. Keep that in front of you and with you.