Case Studies
Case Studies of the Community of Practice
- Rising Sun Energy Center GETS case study
- California Youth Energy Services (CYES) is an employment program run by Rising Sun that hires local youth ages 15-22 to do free residential energy audits and basic water and energy efficiency work. This year, Rising Sun is developing the Green Energy Training Services program (GETS) as the next step of the career ladder for people who've decided they want to pursue a career in energy efficiency, targeting young adults 18-25.
- Long Island Green Homes case study
- The Town of Babylon has developed a unique home energy retrofit program called the The Long Island Green Homes Initiative. The program provides residential energy-efficiency home improvements at little or no upfront cost to homeowners.
- Alliance for Affordable Energy case study
- The Energy Smart program was developed by the Alliance and approved by the New Orleans City Council. The program would pay for home energy retrofits with little upfront cost to residents. In addition to policy development and consumer education, the Alliance for Affordable Energy is training at-risk youth in basic energy efficiency work.
- GTECH Strategies case study
- Andrew Butcher is the CEO of GTECH strategies, a Pittsburgh-based Social Enterprise working to revitalize urban neighborhoods in Pittsburgh through vacant land reclamation, cultivation of remediating biofuel crops, and facilitating green economy initiatives. GTECH is working with a widespread coalition to develop a regional green jobs strategy and initiate a targeted geographic strategy to connect community stakeholders with the growing opportunities in energy efficiency and weatherization.
- Milwaukee Energy Efficiency case study
- Elissa is an Associate and Coordinator for the Milwaukee Energy Efficiency (Me2) program of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS). COWS is developing Me2 – a program that would allow property owners and renters to implement energy efficiency measures with immediate savings and no upfront costs – along with the City of Milwaukee and other partners.
- Philadelphia Green Jobs Corps case study
- SBN is designing a city-wide green jobs apprenticeship program. The Philadelphia Green Jobs Corps will aim to match basic skills training with employers' needs and strive to ultimately connect local green employers to the region's workforce. The Green Economy Task Force is an alliance of 100 businesses, environmental groups, government, academic institutions, workforce development providers, and unions and is advising the development of the Green Job Corps. SBN is also convening a green employer roundtable to match the design of the training program to the skills employers are looking for.
- Seattle Green Building Capital Initiative
- The Seattle Mayor’s office has proposed a Green Building Capital Initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the energy efficiency of Seattle’s homes and businesses.
- Chicago Concept Paper
- Resource for RAC from Chinwe Onyeagoro
- Enabling Energy Efficiency Programs
- A report by Merrian Fuller, September 2008
- Portland Clean Energy Fund
- Portland is developing a Clean Energy Fund for home energy retrofits. The initial phase of the Clean Energy Fund includes a 500-home pilot with basic energy retrofits (insulation, air sealing, duct sealing) and space heat (furnace, heat pump). The objective of the pilot is to eliminate barriers to widespread adoption of energy efficiency measures by targeting homeowners of all income levels.
- Goodwill Detroit's Flip the Script
- Flip the Script, Detroit’s premier male Empowerment Program has successfully trained and assisted hundreds of low-income Detroit-Wayne County minority males gain entry into unionized Skills and Construction apprenticeships programs and non traditional career tracks through a holistic approach using mathematics as it’s centerpiece. The program’s initial focus was serving young men of color who were underachievers, unemployed, underemployed, had not completed high school and/or were formerly incarcerated. Flip the Script is widening its scope to include women and displaced workers and works with young males currently enrolled in grades K-12.
- Mile High Youth Corps
- Dr. Kelly Causey is in her 11th year directing Mile High Youth Corps (MHYC) – an agency that employs, educates and trains over 250 young adults each year who give over 46,000 hours of service to the Denver metro area and earn more than $130,000 in AmeriCorps scholarships. Mile High Youth Corps (MHYC) engages youth in jobs that help the planet and provide pathways to a promising future. Through its conservation programs MHYC provides “green-collar jobs” for youth participants while helping thousands of Denver residents.
- Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice
- The two-year-old program serves under- or unemployed Detroit residents, primarily African American males. The Green Jobs Training program helps transform individuals through wrap-around services. In addition to training people, Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice engages in community building and social justice advocacy. So far, the program has been able to place all of its graduates.
- U.S. Forest Service Green Jobs Initiative
- The Forest Service operates 22 Civilian Conservation Centers in 14 states that serve disadvantaged youth through work-based learning. As part of a Green Jobs Initiative, the Centers are integrating green skills into their construction, forestry, natural resource maintenance, and wild-land firefighting programs.
- Pathways to Green Jobs
- Courtney DeOreo is a workforce development consultant who helped design and launch Cuyahoga Community College’s Pathways out of Poverty through Green Jobs program. The program includes courses in life skills and the green occupations in construction and manufacturing designed for people with barriers to employment. The program was developed to meet the unique requirements of the Northeast Ohio region. For more information, read our case study on Pathways to Green Jobs or email John Gajewski at John.Gajewski(at)tri-c.edu.
- Green College Initiative
- Marcy Drummond is Vice President of Workforce Education and Development at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College. She spearheaded LATTC’s Green College Initiative, which has received national recognition. She is a member of the National Commission on Energy Policy’s Task Force on America’s Future Energy Jobs. In 2008, she was awarded the Green Achievement Award for Workforce Development by an Individual (California) by Green Technology Magazine. LA Trade Tech’s Green College Initiative offers courses and certificate programs including green technology, construction, energy, and business in cooperation with regional employers in these fields. The programs serve all Los Angeles residents but particularly those with high barriers to employment.
- American YouthWorks
- American YouthWorks has been providing a second chance to high school drop-outs for 30 years through its Charter School and career development program. Its mission is to bring Green Jobs preparation to youth who have been disengaged from the mainstream economy and mainstream school settings. Each year 400 students are enrolled in its Charter school and 100 students are enrolled in its three green job training programs. The Casa Verde YouthBuild program teaches students how to build green houses using green construction methods. This year American YouthWorks will launch the Green Jobs Training Center for green jobs instruction.
- Newark Green Jobs Training
- The Laborers Local 55 and GANE launched a weatherization and green jobs training program for inner-city residents of Newark, New Jersey, in January 2009. The goal was to recruit individuals who have traditionally faced barriers to employment. The initiative was in response to President Obama’s campaign call for weatherizing a million homes in the larger context of creating jobs and addressing global warming. The Newark weatherization program’s first 6-week training course began in March with 22 participants, all people of color, who were either unemployed or underemployed. Roughly half of the participants were from prison re-entry programs.
- Newark Green Jobs Pilot Program
- The Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA), in partnership with the Garden State Alliance for New Economy and the City of Newark, launched a partnership to offer union-trained green construction jobs for Newark residents in home energy retrofits in January 2009. Through the pilot program, local residents are hired and trained to weatherize homes of needy households, thus reducing energy consumption, cutting costs for those most in need, and creating good paying, career track jobs.
- Oregon Tradeswomen
- Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the success of women in the construction trades. It educates girls and women about careers in the construction-related trades, provides pre-apprenticeship training to women interested in entering the construction trades, and offers support and leadership opportunities to women in those trades.
- Oakland Green Jobs Corps
- The Oakland Green Jobs Corps is a job-training program providing “green pathways out of poverty” for young adults in Oakland facing barriers to employment. The program is providing job-readiness training, ongoing support services, and on-the-job training, enabling trainees to pursue careers in green industries.
- Solar Richmond
- The mission of Solar Richmond is to bring the economic advantages of the emerging green economy to disenfranchised communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a partner and piece of the RichmondBUILD Workforce Development program, Solar Richmond teaches a five-week course in solar installation, including both solar photovoltaic and solar thermal installations. Curriculum involves classroom instruction and on-the-job training in solar energy and installation. Participants are typically unemployed or underemployed or at-risk youth.
- Rising Sun Energy Center CYES case study
- The three-pronged approach of Rising Sun Energy Center includes educating the public, hiring and training local youth, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Young workers engaged by California Youth Energy Services visit homes in their communities to conduct energy audits and offer simple energy-saving repairs. Arriving in twos, the CYES teenagers measure the household electricity, gas and water consumption and then offer residents help in reducing this usage by switching out incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent bulbs, installing water-saving faucet-heads, and offering retractable clotheslines.
- New Jersey Institute for Social Justice
- The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice has two programs that increase economic opportunity for urban residents. The New Careers Project is a transitional jobs program for adults 18 and over who have recently been released form prison. Newark/Essex County Construction Careers (N/CCC) is a pre-apprenticeship program that prepares Newark residents for union apprenticeships. This year N/ECCC will begin a green jobs training program, focusing on brown-fields remediation, while New Careers will prepare a temporary labor force for the City of Newark’s Clean & Green Initiative.
- Green City Corps
- Lisbeth Shepherd is Founder of Green City Corps, a start-up organization that will combine national service with green jobs training to prepare young people for career-track employment in the green economy. The program will pilot the new clean energy service corps, serving 18-25 year olds with barriers to employment. The coursework will include an overview of the green economy, environmental justice, climate issues, as well as the hard skills of green building techniques, weatherization, communications and project management.
- Sustainable South Bronx
- Environmental justice is the core mission of Sustainable South Bronx. Since 2001 it has been promoting sustainable green practices such as green roofing and community planning in this intensely urban borough of New York City. The SSBX organization started its Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training (BEST) program in 2003 and, renamed the BEST Academy, it now has programs in various facets of ecology and green buildings. The program strives to serve mostly low income, welfare to work, unemployed and underemployed residents of of New York City. Training them through classes in ecology, horticulture, environmental remediation, landscaping, retrofitting, weatherization and solar panel installation, it gives its trainees preparation for green careers.
- LACAUSA YouthBuild
- William Winchester is the Green Building Coordinator for LACAUSA YouthBuild and is a YouthBuild Green Fellow. The Green Building program puts young people to work improving the energy efficiency of homes for low-income people. William developed a Weatherization and Residential Retrofit Program with Community College Partner CD TECH-LATTC. William and his Green Team have a developed a Shovel Ready program for Greening Low Income Homes.
- Vermont Works for Women
- Vermont Works for Women serves women and girls from a wide variety of backgrounds but particularly women who are unemployed or underemployed, moving from public assistance to work, women seeking to change careers and women who have been incarcerated.
