2009 Green Pathways Out of Poverty Working Group Members

Keith Bennett is the Program Director of Goodwill Detroit’s Flip the Script Male Empowerment Program. 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. For more information, read our case study on Goodwill Detroit's Flip the Script Program or visit their website.

Patrick Brown has helped to build Greencorps Chicago through his work with the OAI, Inc., a non-profit workforce development agency. Green Corps Chicago is a City of Chicago program to bridge economically-disadvantaged people with the green economy through paid nine-month training programs in diverse environmental trades. To learn more about Greencorps Chicago, read our case study or visit their website.

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. For more information, read our case study on Mile High Youth Corps or visit the Mile High Youth Corps website.

Roshani Dantas directs the Green Jobs Training Program of 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. For more information, read our case study or visit the Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice website.

Larry Dawson is the Director of the US Forest Service Job Corps in Lakewood Colorado.  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.  For more information, read our case study on the Forest Service’s Job Corps.

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.

Marcy Drummond is Vice President for Workforce Education and Economic Development at the 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. For more information, read our case study or visit the Green College Initiative website.

Mindy Feldbaum is the Director for Workforce Development Programs at The Academy for Educational Development (AED), an independent, nonprofit organization committed to addressing human development, educational, and workforce needs in the United States and throughout the world.  Her focus is on workforce development and education issues, including green workforce and economic development; community college access and success; Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM); and justice reentry focused on employment and educational opportunities. Ms.Feldbaum recently was the lead author on the publication, Going Green: The Vital Role of Community Colleges in Building a Sustainable Future and a Green Workforce.  You can visit the AED website or download the Going Green publication.

Richard Halpin is the Founder and Director of American YouthWorks in Austin. 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. For more information, read our case study on American Youthworks or visit their website.

 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. For more information, please read our case study or read about the partnership on GANE's website.

Dawn Jones is a Mexican-American, journey-level carpenter and videomaker. Through her work as a feminist instructor and social justice advocate at Oregon Tradeswomen, Dawn has helped hundreds of women prepare for high skill, high wage careers in construction. For more information, read our case study on Oregon Tradeswomen or visit their website.

Emily Kirsch is the Bay Area Organizer for the Green-Collar Jobs Campaign at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Emily's work at the Ella Baker Center is building cross-sector partnerships between green business, labor, environmental and community-based organizations to create pathways out of poverty and into the quality, career-track, manual labor jobs in industries such as renewable energy, water and energy efficiency and green building, especially for low-income young adults and those facing barriers to employment.  For more information, read our case study on the Green-Collar Jobs campaign or visit their website.

Rebecca Lurie is the Director of Development for the Consortium for Worker Education. The CWE works with unions and community organizations, delivering training and job related services to a wide range of workers and job seekers. A carpenter by trade, Rebecca has developed and managed several union partnered pre-apprenticeship programs over the last 15 years. Currently she serves on the NYC Apollo Alliance Steering Committee and is working with the New York Chapter of the USGBC on green construction skills curriculum and certification. For more information on CWE, visit their website.

Janet Marinaccio is Acting Director of Workforce Development for Goodwill Industries International.  Goodwill is a social benefit organization whose members support a wide range of services for low-income people.  Goodwill provides green job training and placement in industries such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, and recycling.  Janet leads capacity-building training and assists Goodwill members with program development and enhanced service delivery.  For more information, visit the goodwill website.

Michele McGeoy, Executive Director of Solar Richmond, is a longtime entrepreneur and Founder of 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. For more information, read our case study on Solar Richmond or visit their website.

Arthur Shanks is the Executive Director of The Cypress Mandela Training Center. Cypress Mandela provides life skills and technical training in green construction and alternative energy in the disadvantaged industrial area of West Oakland.  The Cypress Mandela pre-apprenticeship program is part of the Oakland Green Jobs Corps.  After 16 weeks, Cypress Mandela graduates move on to the local Laney Community College for courses including solar energy, electricity transfer and solar installation. Successful graduates will then be placed in 3-month paid apprenticeships with one of a dozen local green companies that have agreed to support the program with on-the-job training. For more information on Cypress Mandela, visit their website.

Jodi Pincus joined RSEC in 2006 as the CYES Director and became the Executive Director in April 2007. 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. For more information, read our case study on CYES or visit their website.

Raquel Pinderhughes is Professor of Urban Studies and Planning at San Francisco State University. A nationally recognized expert on green collar jobs, her research informs understanding of how to harness green business growth to fight both pollution and poverty and provide people with multiple barriers to employment with pathways out of poverty. The training program she developed provided critical guidance to the Oakland Green Jobs Corps and has been used to inform the development of green collar job training programs in many other cities. She is currently creating an environmental literacy curriculum and facilitators guide for green collar job training programs throughout the United States. She can be reached at raquelrp@sfsu.edu.

Elizabeth Reynoso is the Coordinator of Planning & Community Partnerships at the Institute for Social Justice in Newark, NJ. 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/ECCC) is a pre-apprenticeship program that prepares low income minority men and women 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. For more information, read our case study on the NJ Institute for Social Justice or visit their website.

Wayne Richardson is an organizer with the Garden State Alliance for a New Economy (GANE). Richardson is a lifelong Newark resident, has worked with the Laborers union for many years, first as a business agent, then as an organizer.  He has also worked for the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, helping coordinate their program to increase African-American access to careers in construction trades. 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.  For more information, please read our case study or read about the partnership on GANE's website.

Jeff Rickert is the Director of the new Green Jobs Center at the AFL-CIO Working for America Institute.   The Green Jobs Center will provide resources and technical assistance to AFL-CIO affiliates and partners on policy, economic development, training and other issues related to green jobs.

Ted Roan is the Training Manager at American YouthWorks in Austin, Texas. 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. For more information, read our case study on American Youthworks or visit their website.

Debra Rowe is the President of the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development. Debra created and teaches energy management and renewable energies courses in an on-line format with National Science Foundation funds as part of the Consortium for Education in Renewable Energy Technology (www.ceret.us), and has helped numerous colleges and organizations develop their energy and sustainability curricula and practices. As professor of energy management and renewable energy technology for over 29 years at Oakland Community College, Debra teaches courses for customized degrees as well as certificates in Renewable Energies and Sustainable Living. As President of the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development, she helps public and private organizations integrate sustainability into mission, curricula and culture, purchasing and investments, facilities and operations, and community partnerships. For more information on the Partnership, visit their website.

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. For more information, read our case study on Green City Corps.

Jayne Sheridan is the Deputy Director of Vermont Works for Women, a non-profit that helps women and girls explore, pursue and excel in nontraditional careers that pay a livable wage. 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. Ms. Sheridan currently serves as a member of the Chittenden County Workforce Investment Board (WIB) and Adult Education Council. For more information, read our case study on Vermont Works for Women or visit their website.

Annette Williams is the director of the nationally recognized Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training program (B.E.S.T.) providing proven, effective green-collar job training and placement services for NYC residents.  Annette has over 20 years of experience as a program coordinator for community organizations, and as an activist for environmental justice. For more information, read our case study on Sustainable South Bronx or visit their website.

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  Shovel Ready program for Greening Low Income Homes. For more information, read our case study on LACAUSA YouthBuild or visit their website.