Meeting Notes - November 18

Green Collar Jobs Roundtable

Workshop Group II: Training

Date: November 18, 2008

Time: 10:00 AM-12:00 PM

Location: SEIU 32BJ at 101 Avenue of the Americas, Room 720 (7th Floor)

In Attendance:

Training Working Group Leader: Rebecca Lurie, CWE
Urban Agenda Representative: Myles Lennon

James Barry, 32BJ Thomas Shortman Program, Program Development
Michael Bobker, CUNY Building Performance Lab, Director
Sean Brennan, Mason Tenders Training Fund, Training Director
Debby D’Amico, Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies, CUNY, Senior Program Developer
Suri Duitch, CUNY, University Director of Adult Continuing Education
Megan Houston, Full Spectrum of NY, Intern/Analyst Grad. Student with Pratt Institute
Maureen LaMar, NYCOSH, Assistant Director
Robert Lewis, CWE, Curriculum Developer
Rebecca Rabison, Association for Energy Affordability, Program Associate
Luis Torres, Center for Sustainable Energy, Associate Director for Community and Public Affairs
Michael Yee, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3, Treasurer

Note Taker: Donald Graff, CWE, Intern

1. Introductions

2. Myles’ Introduction:
A. Myles Lennon: scope is key.
i. We want to stay focused on the workforce development aspect.
a. Rebecca Lurie: goal of the training
1. to match up well with business needs and desires
ii. City needs planning around workforce development for green jobs.
a. key reason: city needs a strong “green” workforce
1. this is key to our accomplishing of our urban agenda.
iii. Where are the gaps?
a. employer working group will help identify where they are
b. gaps in job training (Rebecca Lurie)
c. deal with this on more of a macro level

3. Green Jobs Roundtable Draft Report
A. the idea of this is to set the table (in terms of current status and current sectors)
i. end result: shared document that covers a broad swathe of stakeholders.
a. this would be a document we could stand by and submit to the city.
B. James Barry: is sector approach the way to go?
i. There needs to be a contiguous line through the report
ii. Attendees agreed that sector approach is the way to go
a. we’re developing ideas, concepts, and program design as part of a political strategy for NYC (i.e. political context)
b. James Barry: if there are, say, 10 energy jobs, we can focus on, say, 2 of them and drill down from there
1. a spreadsheet for this could have different sectors (ex.: energy sector broken down into building-related sub-sector)

4. Tools we can access
A. Zoho Sheet
1. This can be, and is being used by us, to post spreadsheets
2. We can do a posting (template) and Myles Lennon can enter that information into a spreadsheet.
3. Rebecca: we need to determine who’s responsible for the various sections

5. Objectives (5 bullets prepared for this meeting)
A. These are 5 points that this sector of the roadmap can address
B. Bullet #2: “Sketch of green career paths – job titles, descriptions, qualifications, certifications”
1. How do we transition the workforce development structure (in terms of going green?)
2. Internships are part of the training pathway (Mike Bobker (*he runs an internship program)
a. Rebecca agreed: We should put “internship” as part of career pathway model.
b. examples: MTA signal school, Local 100 (TWU)
c. don’t assume that young apprentices are schooled in all of these layers.
C. Bullet #3: “Analysis of cross-sector skills and qualifications”
1. parallel training: train workers for jobs that are out there + jobs that will be existing tomorrow at the same time.
a. Myles: Yes. This is good. Transferable skills + existing work structure
2. cross-sectoral skills
a. rather than a bullet point, it can be put on a blog where people can add on to it (i.e. where there’s an overlap) or on a conference call.
3. First (Urban Agenda) Working Group has already dealt with the broad cross-section of the job market
4. Robert Lewis: target audience may be bifurcated.
a. Not necessarily. Working Group III charged with dealing with low-end (i.e. welfare-to-work, ex-convicts, etc.) target audience (Rebecca Lurie)
5. Mike Bobker: we need to figure out what those basic skills are and how we get to them (i.e. this may involve basic educational system)
D. Bullet #4: “Identification of exemplary certifications, curricula and programs”
1. including cross-sector transitional skills (Rebecca Lurie)
E. Bullet #5: “Recommendations for developing pre-employment
Corp/internships/volunteer/education programs”
1. Myles: this is our last priority
F. Additional Bullet suggested
1. Mike Bobker: “Trying to define our ‘urban’ training system”
a. this would refer to the different parties involved (i.e. CBO’s, various universities, etc.)

6. Examination of Training Availability and Needs By Sector, Sub-sector, Job
A. We’re determining the gap for the various green jobs
B. Review of Job Description’s 1-14
1. #2 “Is there a demand for the position? Do we see or anticipate labor shortages? (show proof if possible, speak to employers, studies referenced)”
a. Rebecca: if we have this “proof” available, lets get it out
1. ex.: UN book on Green Jobs (shows job data on a global scale)
i. Myles: these additions are fine as long as they help to make the case for the reasons for workforce development
2. #’s 12 “What is the career pathway?” and 13 “Where is advancement”
a. Mike Bobker: we’re taking people into a somewhat challenging learning curve and we should be aware of that fact.
C. Myles: we’re targeting incumbent workers and transitioning them to green job sectors.
1. we’re also targeting the new work force
D. Michael Yee: USGBC exists and is not re-inventing the wheel. (this could be a model). USGBC is adapting to new technology (i.e. signalman, carpenter, tradesman)
1. as new technology comes along, we examine the gaps we have to fill in, in terms of new technology, and adjust to fill in those gaps.
E. The Sustainability Revolution by Andrés R. Edwards
1. Rebecca Lurie mentioned this book and suggested devoting 1-2 paragraphs on something relating to it, in terms of showing how training in all sectors will be changing.
F. Should we show how to access policy controls?
1. Not necessary. The Outreach and Political Policy (Urban Agenda) Workforce will deal with this area.

7. Review of Sector Templates on Urban Agenda Blog
A. 1. “Energy”
1. add information about: retrofits, efficiency, energy management, renewable energy (i.e. hybrid vehicles (ex.: Grant Associates, SBS Transit Sector))
B. Other sectors that will be fleshed out by attendees on-line:
1. #2 “Urban Forestry”
2. #3 “Environmental Remediation”
3. #4 “Transportation”
4. #5 “Green Product Development”
C. Attendees Volunteering
1. Attendees volunteered and James Barry entered attendees, people not present and certain organizations into the 5 sectors accordingly.
D. Myles
1. He can put up an area on the Urban Agenda blog where people can put up names and organizations that Urban Agenda can reach out to in different areas. E. What about employers? (Michelle Matthews)
1. While the unions represented here at the table are involved in joint- training fund that works with employers (i.e. AEA, CEC, Full Spectrum), no commercial employers are represented.
2. Myles: the way we have divvied up the Urban Agenda Working Groups
a. it’s designed to eventually lead to Road Map to share with the city council and mayoral candidates

8. H.W. for Next Meeting
1. Determine
a. training needs
b. what already exists
c. what’s next
2. Myles
a. he will put templates with relevant points up on the blog
i. attendees will help fill this out in their spare time.
ii. issues that may not be directly related to the sector can be posted too if poster deems it relevant

3. Conference calls
a. Tuesday, December 2nd at 10 AM
i. this will allow for team leaders to get together on a Tuesday.
4. Contact Spreadsheet
a. Myles will send this out
i. attendees can fill in their phone numbers, etc. here
5. Objectives
a. they will be re-written and posted on blog
6. Good Finished Product
a. hopefully completed sometime in mid-January of 2009 (Myles)

Working Group Team Members

PARKING LOT

Hi Training Working Group,

If you come across any tangential information, contacts or resources to share with other Working Groups please post it here:




















































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Below is a draft inventory of Green Collar Jobs Training programs in New York City. For a clearer view of the spreadsheet check out the following link: http://public.sheet.zoho.com/public/gcjroundtable/green-jobs-training-inventory