Following on the heels of its announcement last week of $100 million in Energy Training Partnership green jobs training grants, the Department of Labor announced another set of green jobs training grants this week: the Pathways Out of Poverty Grants. These grants are especially meaningful to the Apollo Alliance, as they represent the fruition of years of work by Apollo on the Green Jobs Act, which was passed as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and authorized $125 million per year in funding to train workers for jobs in energy efficiency and renewable energy. It also represents our more recent work on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which finally provided the funding for the green jobs training programs authorized by the Green Jobs Act.
The Pathways Out of Poverty Grants were awarded primarily to organizations serving communities with poverty rates of 15 percent or higher. The $150 million in grant funding will go toward programs that not only train workers in the skills they need for jobs in energy efficiency and renewable energy, but also provide trainees with basic literacy and job readiness skills. Many of the programs will also provide support services like assistance with childcare and transportation.
Trainees served by the programs come from populations that face a variety of barriers to employment—high-school drop outs, ex-offenders, veterans, people with limited English proficiency and people with disabilities, among others. If the programs succeed, they will ensure that our growing green economy “lifts all boats” and “connects the people who most need work with the work that most needs to be done,” as Van Jones, former Apollo board member and founder of Green For All, who was instrumental in the passage of the Green Jobs Act, testified before Congress last year.
Among the 38 programs that will receive Pathways Out of Poverty grants are many the Apollo Alliance is familiar with. Goodwill Industries International will employ a four-phased model in its training program, designed to move job seekers from an intensive individual assessment through a job placement in energy efficient building construction or renewable energy in six cities: Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Grand Rapids, Phoenix and Washington, DC. Jobs for the Future Inc. will partner with the AFL-CIO Working for America Institute to ramp up pathways for unemployed and disadvantaged individuals in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Milwaukee and Philadelphia to move into green industries like energy-efficient building, construction and retrofitting. The National Council of La Raza will provide linguistically and culturally competent training in energy efficiency and clean energy for individuals with limited English proficiency in San Jose, San Diego and Chicago.
Many other deserving programs will receive Pathways Out of Poverty grants. For a full list, visit the Department of Labor website.
White House Also Announces Clean Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit Awards
Meanwhile, at the end of last week, the Obama administration announced the beneficiaries of an ARRA reward that could create some of the jobs that Pathways Out of Poverty trainees might eventually attain. The clean energy manufacturing tax credit will benefit 183 manufacturing facilities in 43 states, by providing them with a 30 percent tax credit for investments in facilities that produce renewable energy technologies like solar panels, wind turbines, advanced batteries and other clean energy products. The administration estimates that the $2.3 billion in tax credits will provide much-needed support to the domestic clean energy manufacturing sector and generate more than 17,000 jobs.
In December, the Obama administration proposed expanding the clean energy manufacturing tax credit by $5 billion because the program was oversubscribed by a ratio of 3-1, which meant many qualified manufacturing facilities that applied for the tax credits were not approved.
“The Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit program, which supports the building and equipping of factories to make the products of the green economy, has been wildly successful since its inception,” said Phil Angelides, chairman of the Apollo Alliance.
You can read the press release about the companies that will be awarded the tax credit on the White House website. Visit ApolloAlliance.org to read our statement on the proposal to expand the tax credit.
In other news …
*Center for American Progress says there’s good news about U.S. clean energy policy. This week, the Center for American Progress released an evaluation of the Obama administration’s progress on clean energy issues over the last year. The report, A Breath of Fresh Air: Obama Seizes the Energy Opportunity, says that despite setbacks like the failure of the Senate to vote on a clean energy and climate bill in 2009, the President and Congress made significant progress last year in the transition to a clean energy economy. They list the limits on greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles; the announcement that the EPA will regulate greenhouse gases; the inclusion of $100 billion in the Recovery Act for clean energy programs; and several other achievements that will have real-world impact. To read the report, go to the Center for American Progress website.
*Coming Soon: Clean Energy Week. Led by ACORE (the American Council on Renewable Energy), some 40 national organizations (including the Apollo Alliance) are organizing a week of action from Feb. 1–5, 2010, to encourage enactment of federal clean energy and climate measures. Clean Energy Week will consist of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, receptions, workshops, press conferences, rallies and outreach activities on Capitol Hill and across Washington, DC, sponsored individually by the participating organizations. To find out how you can participate, visit CleanEnergyWeek.org.