Update — February 2010
Dear colleagues,
It’s official. We’ve moved. Our new address, phone, and fax are below. A big thank you to NY Jobs With Justice for making us feel so welcome.
In other big news, early this month thirteen new members of the New York City Council were sworn in as were incoming Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and incoming City Comptroller John Liu. We look forward to working with all of them to begin implementing the recommendations of our Green Collar Jobs Roadmap.
In Solidarity,
Joanne Derwin
Executive Director, Urban Agenda
Urban Agenda
50 Broadway, Suite 1602
New York, NY 10004
Phone: (212) 631-0886
Fax: (888) 370-3085
ANNOUNCEMENT
Job Title: Administrator
Urban Agenda
New York, New York
Urban Agenda is seeking an administrator for a full-time position with health, pension, vacation, and other benefits.
For more information please visit www.urbanagenda.org/employment.htm.
Consortium for Worker Education wins Pathway out of Poverty grant
The Consortium for Worker Education won a Pathway out of Poverty grant that will establish the “Center for Environmental Workforce Training,” in the South Bronx. The new center will prepare South Bronx residents for green jobs and focus on preparing residents for work in energy efficiency and renewable energy industries.
Program participants will be recruited and referred through numerous community based organizations to take CWE’s SMaRT courses (for skills in Sustainable Mechanical and Retrofitting Technologies). This includes employment fundamentals, environmental literacy, math and science for energy efficiency, and job site health and safety training. Services will be provided for 425 local residents with the goal of placing the majority of those receiving training and certification into training related employment. The program is specifically designed to reach out to residents with limited English proficiency, veterans and eligible spouses, formerly incarcerated, disconnected youth and women.
Rebecca Lurie, CWE Director of Development and NYC Apollo Alliance Steering Committee member said, “This program provides a true pathway out of poverty by not only training for and placing in green jobs, but by giving participants skills that will last a lifetime and will continue to let them be part of building a more sustainable city. We are very excited to be working with our community partners and working to make the Bronx a leader in green jobs.”
Resources
- The Apollo Alliance: Mapping Green Career Pathways: Job Training Infrastructure and Opportunities. The Apollo Alliance presents case studies in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.
- Center for an Urban Future and Community Services Society: Closing the Skills Gap.
- Community Voices Heard: Democracy (In)Action: How HUD, NYCHA and Official Structures Undermine Resident Participation in New York City Public Housing.
- Good Jobs First: Show us the Stimulus (Again).
- Good Jobs New York:Bonds and the Recovery Act: A Guide to Municipal Bonds Enabled Under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and Their Potential Impacts on New York Communities.
SPOTLIGHT
Green Schools Offer New York City Students Unique Perspective
“Green” schools across New York City offer students a unique perspective on the environment through a variety of curricula. Some schools, like the Urban Assembly School for Green Careers, focus on providing their students with job skills needed for the design and operation of energy-efficient buildings. At the Green School in Brooklyn, students are sent out into their neighborhoods to record public service announcements and videos about smoking and air pollution. They also map trees and trash cans on their streets and incorporate their findings into mural sketches for geometry class.
In the last six years, at least 11 traditional and charter green schools at varying grade levels have opened that identified themselves by name as “green” or “environmental.” Some schools teach composting and gardening to emphasize how local environment affects food choices and the need to tend to soil, air, water and plants. Others highlight the link between politics, government, social justice and the environment. As Karalie Pitzele, co-director of the Green School states, “You can’t have a kid in a violent neighborhood and say, ‘Let’s talk about the polar bear’.”
Beyond teaching standard environmental issues, the new green schools place an overwhelming emphasis on civic involvement. Across the country, a range of green schools, as many as 200, have formed a loose network. Far from being for wealthier students, the focus on the environment has particular relevance for poor communities that are disproportionately affected by environmental hazards.
For more information on green schools, please click here.
ANNOUNCEMENT
New Graduate Program at CCNY
Responding to the need for trained professionals to solve complex sustainability problems, the City College of New York (CCNY) has established a new interdisciplinary program, Sustainability in the Urban Environment, leading to the degree of Master of Science in Sustainability. The program, which will begin accepting students for the Spring, 2010 semester, uniquely integrates the disciplines of architecture, engineering and science to address a host of challenging sustainability issues: water, energy, resources, air quality, waste management, sustainable buildings, open space and urban infrastructure.
For further information please contact Dr. Ruth Sinton, (212) 650-6974, rsinton@ccny.cuny.edu.
