Green Workforce Training Program

Solar One’s Green Workforce Training Program (formerly titled the “Green Jobs Training Program”) is a comprehensive environmental education and green careers job training program that is tailored specifically to the needs of community workforce agencies. Launched in 2009, the Workforce Training program is designed to support New York City’s new green economic development strategies such as those included in PlaNYC. Solar One is especially proud of how quickly the Workforce Training program reached the organizations and people ready to be a part of the burgeoning green jobs movement. In just its first year it tripled – from training 350 people in 2009 to training 1,118 people in 2010.

Scope

The Workforce Program provides environmental literacy education and hard skill technical training. Areas covered include building performance, BPI Building Analyst, energy efficiency, renewable energy, green building maintenance and custodial services, electrical retrofitting, green infrastructure construction, and landscaping and horticulture. Participants are primarily low income adults residing in environmental justice areas in New York City, including chronically unemployed and underemployed individuals enrolled in workforce training programs for the formally incarcerated and/or addicted, disconnected youth,  veterans, the homeless, and residents of public housing.

Solar One collaborates with workforce agencies throughout the New York City area to deliver all green jobs training courses, and continually develops new partnerships. Solar One has also supported green job program development and training in other US cities — working with STRIVE International, in 2010/2011 Solar One staff went to Hartford, CT, Flint and Benton Harbor, MI, Baltimore, MD, and Philadelphia, PA to conduct a series of training workshops. This series covered green jobs, green economic development, climate change as an economic driver, and jobs types in the green economy, and also addressed important tools and resources for workforce programs to track green job development.

In 2011, Solar One is beginning to develop employer-based training and leveraged strategies to help partner organizations with job development. Solar One was also recently designated as an affiliate of the Building Performance Institute, which grants the ability to confer national BPI training and certification at the Building Analyst level for program graduates. Solar One’s philosophy is to provide training through broader workforce programs, and future Workforce programs including other certificate programs are being developed with this in mind.

Classes and Training Lab

Workforce classes are taught by experienced professionals and augmented with field training through Solar One’s parent organization, the Community Environmental Center (CEC) other weatherization agencies, and New York state-approved Solar PV and Solar Thermal contractors. This provides a rich educational experience with training in current market practices and demands as well as the future of green workforce and green technology.

In 2010, Solar One built a brand-new Training Lab. An important addition to the Workforce program, the Lab is outfitted with blower doors; exposed wall cavities; windows, doors and an attic simulator for hands on training in air sealing, foam and cellulose insulation techniques; drywall repair; plumbing and electrical retrofitting; lead, renovation, repair and painting; and a simulated roof for solar PV and thermal panel installation. Next door at CEC, the training has access to a boiler room for field training. The new Lab creates an accessible means for Workforce Program participants to obtain valuable hands-on training.

Workforce Training classes cover:

  • Environmental Literacy
  • Green Construction Skills, Basic Building Maintenance and Custodial Services
  • Commercial and Multifamily Basic Electrical and Plumbing Retrofitting
  • Building Performance Basics
  • BPI Building Analyst
  • Solar Photovoltaic and Thermal Installation
  • Energy Auditing Basics
  • Green Infrastructure Landscaping and Urban Farming

 

Please see detailed course list for more information.

What’s a Green Job in New York City, Anyway?

Solar One’s 2010 program graduates are working in the following types of green jobs:

  • Sales & Marketing
  • Technical Trainer
  • Remediation Worker
  • Demolition Worker
  • Construction Worker
  • Solar PV Installer
  • Plumber
  • Weatherization technician
  • Carpenter (Union)
  • Multi-Family Health & Safety Inspector

Partners

Solar One collaborates with workforce training agencies throughout the New York City area to deliver green jobs training courses.

2010 workforce agency partners are:

  • BuildingWorks (National Council of Carpenters)
  • Common Ground
  • The Consortium for Worker Education
  • Covenant House New York
  • Dale Grant Associates/Workforce One
  • Envirolutions
  • The Fortune Society
  • Green City Force
  • Green Jobs Training Center, Howard Beach
  • Helicon, Inc.
  • Laborers’ International Union Of North America, Local 10
  • Nontraditional Employment for Women
  • NYC HRA-BEGIN Managed Programs
  • The Osborne Association
  • Phoenix House
  • School of Cooperative Technical Education
  • SEEDCO
  • Strive Baltimore (MD)
  • Strive Benton Harbor (MI)
  • Strive Flint (MI)
  • Strive Hartford (CT)
  • Strive Philadelphia/MCC (PA)
  • STRIVE New York
  • Vocational Foundation Institute

2010 Department of Education and District 79 educational partners are:

  • The Cooperative Technical High School
  • George Westinghouse High School
  • Manhattan Comprehensive Night and Day High School
  • The Urban Assembly School for Green Careers
  • Queens Vocational and Technical High School
  • William E. Grady High School