NY State Green Jobs--No Training Corps in Buffalo?

Governor Signs The Green Jobs/Green New York Bill
Gov. Paterson signed a bill to establish a program to create green jobs and stimulate investment in weatherization and energy efficiency improvements for residential and commercial buildings. The program is designed to create jobs, lower energy costs for households, not-for-profits and small businesses and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Press release is here.

To fund the weatherization loan program and establish the Statewide green jobs training program, NYSERDA will use a portion of $112 million from the auction of carbon emission credits through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The seed money from the RGGI fund will be used to leverage private investment, which will move us toward a goal of retrofitting one million homes over the next five years.

The Green Jobs bill will allow the State to increase its existing and successful weatherization efforts that are already underway. The Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) will eventually administer $394 million in funds under American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. By the end of October, $190 million in 64 contracts, representing every county in New York, will be executed as part of the WAP program.

Governor Funds Green Jobs Corps, but None in Erie County
Gov. Paterson also announced that $7 million from the State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) has been awarded to 11 counties and New York City to launch the new Green Jobs Corps programs. This funding will allow local departments of social services to provide job skills training and subsidized employment opportunities in “green industries” for public assistance recipients and low-income individuals. Participants in the Green Jobs Corps program will develop occupational skills that will enable them to get jobs in addition to supporting their ability to remain employed and advance in their careers.

Half of the money will go to NY City, and the remainder is divided among 11 counties, which do Not include Erie County, home to Buffalo, the third poorest city in the Nation. WHY NOT Buffalo?

Green Career Web Site Announced
To help connect job seekers with the opportunities being announced today, Paterson also announced the launch of a new web site to assist those seeking to enter the new green job sector. The site – greencareersny.com – is designed to make it easy for individuals, businesses and workforce professionals to find the State’s local training programs and green job opportunities.

Green Jobs Training in Buffalo...Ready?

On April 17th, 2009, Buffalo ReUse submitted their application to the U.S. Conference of Mayors to initiate a Pre-Apprenticeship, Green Jobs Training Program in Buffalo! The program is called the ReBEL Corps. BEL stands for Buffalo ECO Leaders. To be considered, Buffalo ReUse must have a letter of support from our Mayor, Byron Brown and we need your help!

We know the Mayor is committed to creating Green Jobs and to training youth in our neighborhoods. Your signature will communicate your support for this proposal and urge the Mayor to submit a letter of support on behalf of the City of Buffalo to make GREEN JOBS TRAINING possible for out of school young adults, ages 17 - 24.

Please support this effort. Click Here and Sign the Petition.
Oakland is ready...
South Bronx & Chicago are ready. See Web Links -->
The question is...Is Buffalo Ready?

Green Jobs in Buffalo?

Whether it's to save the planet, or save money, going 'green' is in. Everyone and everything are going green. Certain blue-collar jobs and white-collar jobs are now being repurposed as green-collar jobs, or simply green jobs. Green jobs are becoming the rage across the country, and hopefully these new job opportunities will develop in Buffalo.

What is a green job? Green jobs are well-paid, career-track jobs that contribute directly to preserving or enhancing environmental quality. Such jobs are arising because of the need to address global warming pollution caused by burning fossil fuels, and also because of the need to develop sources of clean, renewable energy, like wind, solar and geothermal. Also, investment in energy efficiency can create new jobs, and at the same time help reduce global warming pollution. The table below lists a wide variety of representative jobs that are associated with several different strategies for green economic investment.

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The table is from a report on a green economic recovery program which showed that a $100 billion investment in these areas over two years would result in 2 Million new jobs across the nation. This program would provide a major boost to the construction and manufacturing sectors throughout the U.S, and would have a very significant impact on New York’s labor market. There would be a net increase of 131,991 jobs, reducing New York’s unemployment rate to 3.8% in two years from 5.2% (June 2008). The full report on the impact of this economic recovery program on New York state is here.

Strong opportunities for creating green jobs are anticipated in the near future. President-elect Obama supports making strategic investments to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future. He also supports programs, like the Green Jobs Corps (see Web links on the right-side panel), that will provide youth participants with service opportunities to improve the energy efficiency of homes and buildings in their communities, and also with practical skills and experience in important career fields of expected high‐growth employment.

How about opportunities for green jobs and a Green Jobs Corps in Buffalo? Recently, NY State Assemblyman Sam Hoyt held a "Green Jobs Conference" in Buffalo. The text of his opening remarks is here, and the handout distributed at the conference is here. The conference brought together about 175 representatives from government agencies, businesses, and non-profit organizations to create a clear action plan for long-term success. Participants will continue to meet periodically in smaller groups to further develop job creation proposals and policy suggestions for consideration by state agencies. Hoyt is developing a proposal to create a concurrent green jobs and training corps program that would deconstruct, not demolish, abandoned houses in NY cities and reuse, not landfill, the recovered building materials, replicating Buffalo ReUse’s successful deconstruction model. We very much look forward to future developments on green jobs and training opportunities in Buffalo!