Oakland Builds Green Job Corps, Ohio Builds Prisons
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Categories: Environment and Conservation, Civil Rights and Equality, Social Justice, Energy Policy, African-American Issues, Criminal Justice Reform, Workers' Rights, Front Page
Categories: Environment and Conservation, Civil Rights and Equality, Social Justice, Energy Policy, African-American Issues, Criminal Justice Reform, Workers' Rights, Front Page
Oakland Builds Green Job Corps, Ohio Build Prisons
July 28,2008
Last week the Ella Baker Center of Oakland, California announced a major report.
After more than a year of anticipation, the Oakland Green Jobs Corps has cleared the last hurdle to begin operations this September.
On Tuesday, July 22, the City of Oakland green lighted $250,000 for an exciting partnership that unites some of the best education and training programs in Oakland. This partnership includes:
· Laney College -- one of the region's premier community colleges, providing green vocational education
· Cypress Mandela Construction Training Program -- a renowned pre-apprenticeship program that serves young adults with barriers to employment, and that has strong connections to the building trades unions
· Growth Sector -- a workforce intermediary that connects employers, government and community agencies
This is a powerful partnership that will provide disadvantaged Oakland residents with world-class training and education, and then connect them to quality jobs with solar companies and green construction contractors.
BACKGROUND
In June 2007, the Oakland Apollo Alliance, co-convened by our Green-Collar Jobs Campaign, convinced City Council to provide $250,000 in seed funding for the Oakland Green Jobs Corps. A model for the training program, based upon best practices in workforce development and the research of professor Raquel Pinderhughes at San Francisco State University.
The city held a competitive "Request for Proposals (RFP)" process to identify the most qualified partnership to run the program and carry out the model. Mayor Dellums appointed an expert and neutral RFP Selection Committee to review applications and pick a winner.
This lengthy and careful process is finally complete!
A BIT MORE ON THE PROGRAM
40 low-income Oakland residents will participate in an 8-month program that includes construction training; life skills; academic, environmental, and financial literacy; solar panel installation; energy efficiency; and 3 months on the job with green employers. After graduation, participants will be connected to opportunities in the solar industry and construction trades.
While Oakland officials understand Green Job Corps are the way of the future, we sit around the Mahoning Valley building "alternative" schools that are merely one step away from sending inner city youth to jail.
It's time we invest in Green Job Corp programs for our poor, working, and middle class.
As Write-In Green Party Candidate for Congress, This is my Goal!
Dennis Spisak
Campaign Site: Http://votespisak.opg/electspisak.tripod.com
Check out the Green For All Job Corp Program on our web site under programs and links
Another Waste-to Ethanol Plant going up, But not in Ohio
July 25, 2008
Reno, Nevada is the latest American city in the process of building a waste-to ethanol plant. The plant will be built by Fulcrum BioEnergy and is expected to begin operating in 2010.
Taking municipal sold waste and converting it to ethanol, the Sierra BioFuels plant will produce approximately 10.5 million gallons of biofuel per year, from 90,000 tons of material that otherwise would have been disposed of in landfills. The plant, located ten miles east of Reno, will cost $120 million to build, with construction starting later this year.
Touting the project, Fulcrum President and CEO E. James Macias said,
Converting garbage waste into a clean, renewable fuel for cars has profound social and environmental benefits. It will help mitigate our dependence on imported oil, lower the price of gasoline, reduce the amount of waste landfilled, lower greenhouse gases and create a new industry of jobs and economic growth. Unlike conventional ethanol technology, which uses corn and other agricultural feedstock, our plant will utilize processed municipal solid waste that will not affect the cost or availability of our nation's food supply.
As the Independent Green Party Write-In Candidate for Congress for Ohio's 6th District, I again ask Incumbent Congressman Charlie Wilson and myself why is this type of technology being built in the closed up factories along the Ohio River Valley?
When will Ohio join the 21st Century when it comes to Renewable Energy Sources and new blue-collar jobs for our valley's poor, working, and middle class?
Dennis Spisak- Campaign site: Http://votespisak.org/electspisak.tripod.com
Visit our links page to progressive Green Jobs Programs for the Ohio Valley
July 28,2008
Last week the Ella Baker Center of Oakland, California announced a major report.
After more than a year of anticipation, the Oakland Green Jobs Corps has cleared the last hurdle to begin operations this September.
On Tuesday, July 22, the City of Oakland green lighted $250,000 for an exciting partnership that unites some of the best education and training programs in Oakland. This partnership includes:
· Laney College -- one of the region's premier community colleges, providing green vocational education
· Cypress Mandela Construction Training Program -- a renowned pre-apprenticeship program that serves young adults with barriers to employment, and that has strong connections to the building trades unions
· Growth Sector -- a workforce intermediary that connects employers, government and community agencies
This is a powerful partnership that will provide disadvantaged Oakland residents with world-class training and education, and then connect them to quality jobs with solar companies and green construction contractors.
BACKGROUND
In June 2007, the Oakland Apollo Alliance, co-convened by our Green-Collar Jobs Campaign, convinced City Council to provide $250,000 in seed funding for the Oakland Green Jobs Corps. A model for the training program, based upon best practices in workforce development and the research of professor Raquel Pinderhughes at San Francisco State University.
The city held a competitive "Request for Proposals (RFP)" process to identify the most qualified partnership to run the program and carry out the model. Mayor Dellums appointed an expert and neutral RFP Selection Committee to review applications and pick a winner.
This lengthy and careful process is finally complete!
A BIT MORE ON THE PROGRAM
40 low-income Oakland residents will participate in an 8-month program that includes construction training; life skills; academic, environmental, and financial literacy; solar panel installation; energy efficiency; and 3 months on the job with green employers. After graduation, participants will be connected to opportunities in the solar industry and construction trades.
While Oakland officials understand Green Job Corps are the way of the future, we sit around the Mahoning Valley building "alternative" schools that are merely one step away from sending inner city youth to jail.
It's time we invest in Green Job Corp programs for our poor, working, and middle class.
As Write-In Green Party Candidate for Congress, This is my Goal!
Dennis Spisak
Campaign Site: Http://votespisak.opg/electspisak.tripod.com
Check out the Green For All Job Corp Program on our web site under programs and links
Another Waste-to Ethanol Plant going up, But not in Ohio
July 25, 2008
Reno, Nevada is the latest American city in the process of building a waste-to ethanol plant. The plant will be built by Fulcrum BioEnergy and is expected to begin operating in 2010.
Taking municipal sold waste and converting it to ethanol, the Sierra BioFuels plant will produce approximately 10.5 million gallons of biofuel per year, from 90,000 tons of material that otherwise would have been disposed of in landfills. The plant, located ten miles east of Reno, will cost $120 million to build, with construction starting later this year.
Touting the project, Fulcrum President and CEO E. James Macias said,
Converting garbage waste into a clean, renewable fuel for cars has profound social and environmental benefits. It will help mitigate our dependence on imported oil, lower the price of gasoline, reduce the amount of waste landfilled, lower greenhouse gases and create a new industry of jobs and economic growth. Unlike conventional ethanol technology, which uses corn and other agricultural feedstock, our plant will utilize processed municipal solid waste that will not affect the cost or availability of our nation's food supply.
As the Independent Green Party Write-In Candidate for Congress for Ohio's 6th District, I again ask Incumbent Congressman Charlie Wilson and myself why is this type of technology being built in the closed up factories along the Ohio River Valley?
When will Ohio join the 21st Century when it comes to Renewable Energy Sources and new blue-collar jobs for our valley's poor, working, and middle class?
Dennis Spisak- Campaign site: Http://votespisak.org/electspisak.tripod.com
Visit our links page to progressive Green Jobs Programs for the Ohio Valley
