Green job trainees hold summit to share learnings

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These Pathways to Green Job participants held a "Green Summit" to present their learnings from the program.

Public-housing residents involved in green job training recently held a “Green Summit” to present what they learned during the nine-week program at Dawson Technical Institute, an occupational training center  in the City Colleges of Chicago system.  The participants were part of Pathways to Green Jobs, which kicked off in early 2011 after workforce development initiative Opportunity Chicago was awarded funding from the US Department of Labor to help public-housing residents tap employment opportunities in the emerging green sector. (More on that here.)

As audience members – including program staff, instructors and Dawson faculty – arrived at the summit, they were asked to complete an “Are You a Tree Hugger?” survey to rate their own commitment to the environment. Students then opened the program by explaining the meaning of their class motto, “The microwave or the oven,” as a choice that people make between a fast-paced, fast-food-type lifestyle versus a slower more mindful approach. 

Each of the 23 students presented on a green concept they had researched, such as recycling, bio-diesel fuel and corporate social responsibility, accompanied by display boards illustrating their findings. It was clear that as a result of the class, students had become more attuned to environmental issues in their own lives and had begun to change their behavior as a result. Chris Walton, who presented on wind power, said that he became interested in the topic when he saw a wind turbine going up on the nearby Illinois Institute of Technology campus.

Following the student presentations, representatives from the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), Heartland Human Care Services (HHCS) and Employment & Employer Services (EES), all involved in the Pathways program, congratulated participants and encouraged them to apply their energy and learning to the next step in the process – employment.  Adult Education Manager Barbara Searles closed by urging the students to take what they have learned and, “carry it over to their lives for all of our children and our grandchildren.”  Finally, audience members were asked to reveal their survey responses. : As it turned out, the students were speaking to a sympathetic crowd of mostly self-identified “tree huggers.”

The cohort graduated two days after the October 19 summit and began to work with EES on job placement. To date five have found employment and 18 are in the process of interviewing.

Pathways to Green Jobs is a partnership of the CHA, City Colleges, EES, HHCS, LEED Council and The Partnership for New Communities to train 106 public-housing residents in green building maintenance and integrated pest management in preparation for jobs in these fields. 

Seventy-two percent ($690,000) of the project’s funding comes from the US DOL “Pathways out of Poverty” grant; the balance is funded by Opportunity Chicago, which receives private and corporate support through The Partnership for New Communities.

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