SEPTEMBER 18th MEETING NOTES
Emphasized Topics
- Employers not yet sure of their needs.
- Need more opportunities for on-the-job-training.
- The Union is a good model if they can be flexible.
- A centralized place/ website/ effort/ newsletter is necessary.
- Not yet sure of growth potential in the job sectors yet, so it’s in everyone’s best interests to train green all-around all the time to accommodate different needs.
Who Else Do We Need in This Group?
- More employers
- More social workers
- Non-energy employers
- CFW
- Health care
- Education
- Real estate
Notes
- Wendy Neu opened up and asked for a brainstorm of the issues that employers have in finding good green-collar workers.
- How do we bridge the huge disconnect between trainers and employers?
- What are some of the obstacles?
David Hepinstall (Association for Energy Affordability)
- Been an employer since 1990, and feels he needs a better set of assessment tools and needs support to decide who’s a good worker.
- A TABE test would be helpful. There is no equivalent in his field. It’s important to have basic math skills. The employer is taking a risk. Need to find ways to eliminate that risk.
- The best training is on-the-job-training.
- Energy Audit training is not even enough. Engineering schools don’t teach the right things. No programs yet.
- Energy sector needs better connect between education and the field to set up a comprehensive career path.
Lisa Brown (Johnson Controls)
- Her company is always looking for LEED certified engineers.
Bill Hohlfeld (Local 46 Labor Management Cooperative Trust)
- Working with CUNY to develop Civil Engineering courses.
- He has been using the in-house apprenticeship style, which has worked well. He feels the green industry is a perfect fit for it.
Maria Jacobsen (International Center for the Disabled)
- She’s all for the entry-level apprenticeships for the disabled.
Lisa
- She needs workers much more than engineers.
Lavon Chambers (Local 10)
- “Construction Skills 2000” gives entry-level jobs without even waiting on a list. He’d like to see the process sped up.
- He’d like grassroots recruiting in disadvantaged areas for non-college educated individuals.
- What kind of training do they need to before beginning retro-fit work.
Stefanie Feldman (ITAC)
- Green is the “best practice.” Make green a part of the core for programs that are already set in place.
- Everybody should be trained in green to be better suited to find any job.
- Capitalize on existing awareness.
Maralyn Edid (ILR Cornell University)
- Need a place or a website to centralize and help all employers find the employees.
- Employers want the easiest most accessible way to hire quickly and efficiently.
Lavie Margolin (Brooklyn Educational Opportunity)
- Green is a good marketing tool. It would be nice to have a logo or some way to identify a partnership of companies in a green movement.
Bill
- Employers need to make a wish-list of what skills they are looking for.
- He doesn’t feel there is a shortage of skills, but contact is difficult. Needs to be matched up with an employer wish-list. A database for skills.
David
- Not all jobs can be Union. Some entry jobs are below that level.
- Dep. of Labor doesn’t have detailed options for energy jobs. They need to look into green hiring.
Lavie
- “Career ladder growth…” A clearly defined set of “work here X, and then…. Do this… and then… and eventually become a Y.”
Moira Dolan (District Council 37, AFSCME, AFL-CIO)
- Identify the practices that are already working and stick with what is working.
- Look at the retro-fitting projects that are already effective and show those statistics to get support.
Lavon
- Union needs to be less rigid, and has to become extremely affordable.
Bill
- Companies who give benefits get better workers.
- Don’t lower the standards! Good paying jobs!
Mike ? (NYSERDA)
- Very wide variety of job types beyond the 4 top jobs: retro-fits, building maintenance, park maintenance, and green manufacturing.
Stefanie
- The employers in the different sectors will have different needs, so we need a different strategy for each one.
- A “sustainability coordinator” for the employers.
- Wage subsidies/ gov. help pay employees to get to an acceptable wage.
Moira
- ID who the employers are and what their immediate needs are
- Also, will there be financing and investors during the credit crunch?
David
- Needs entry-level workers immediately.
Lavie
- Need to figure out what other jobs will be created as a result of this in order to convince politicians that this is good idea.
Bill
- He likes working with VA workers, and would like to do an outreach to them.
Lisa
- Doesn’t think employers know what they want. Employers need to be more informed.
- Everyone needs an all around education on how to go green.
- Companies are desperate for green advice, and the current sustainability experts are too expensive.
- Encourage a program of “you pay us whatever we save you in energy costs.”
Maralyn
- Would mayor approve a center for training and access, i.e., Centralized Sustainability Center?
Katie Dewitt (EDC)
- Thinking about the lowest cost options, most valuable and effective jobs to work with limited resources.
- Working on getting a website and a newsletter.
| Tracy | Anderson | Brooklyn Workforce Innovations | |
| Lisa | Brown | Johnson Controls | |
| Lavon | Chambers | Mason Tenders' District Council of Greater New York and Long Island | |
| John | Clinton | Milano Graduate School of Management & Urban Policy | clintonj@newschool.edu |
| Michael | Colgrove | New York State Energy Research and Development Authority | |
| Elizabeth | Crowley | Consortium for Worker Education | |
| Ramon | Cruz | Partnership for New York City | rcruz@pfnyc.org |
| Katie | Dewitt | EDC | kdewitt@nycedc.com |
| Moira | Dolan | District Council 37, AFSCME, AFL-CIO | |
| Maralyn | Edid | ILR Cornell | |
| Stefanie | Feldman | ITAC | |
| Melissa | Gronda | Astoria Graphics | melissagronda@astoriagraphics.com |
| David | Hepinstall | Association for Energy Affordability, Inc. | hepinstall@aeanyc.org |
| Bill | Hohlfeld | Local 46 Labor Management Cooperative Trust | |
| Brook | Jackson | Partnership for New York City | |
| Maria | Jacobson | International Center for the Disabled | |
| Tanu | Kumar | NYIRN | |
| Lavie | Margolin | Brooklyn EOC | margolinl@beoc.cuny.edu |
| Wendy | Neu | Hugo Neu | |
| Marlowe | Paraiso | Department of Youth and Community Development | mparaiso@dycd.nyc.gov |
| Adam | Rabiner | Department of Youth and Community Development | arabiner@dycd.nyc.gov |
