BALTIMORE (1/22/10) -- Alexander M. Sanchez, Secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing
and Regulation (DLLR), announced that the Maryland Energy Sector Partnership, led by the Governor's Workforce
Investment Board (GWIB), has been awarded a $5.8 million grant by the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and
Training Administration to implement programs that will prepare more than 1,500 Marylanders for green jobs in
manufacturing, construction, environmental technology and solar energy.
"In Maryland we have set a goal of creating at least 100,000 green jobs by 2015, and we are working
across our State government - along with partners in organized labor, and in the private, academic, and
non-profit sectors - to implement specific action items that are designed to create new jobs, advance
eco-friendly technologies, and provide more Marylanders with the skills they need to participate and
maximize the benefits of a green economy for their own families," Governor Martin O'Malley said. "This
federal funding not only represents an important step forward towards this goal for Maryland's families, but
it also demonstrates the progressive strategy the Obama Administration is taking towards creating jobs for
the next generation economy."
The project will involve partnerships among businesses, community colleges, labor apprenticeship programs
and the One-Stop Workforce System. It will implement training for both new and incumbent workers to ensure
there is a pipeline of skilled workers for jobs in the emerging green economy. Emphasis will be placed on
providing opportunities for veterans and reservists, low wage workers and ex-offenders to meet the demands
of Maryland employers.
"This grant provides us with a tremendous opportunity to help reach our goal of increasing skills of
Maryland workers 20 percent by 2012," Secretary Sanchez said. "It is a much deserved recognition of the
O'Malley-Brown Administration's commitment to strengthening and growing the middle class, and shows that
"Smart, Green and Growing" will offer real opportunities for Marylanders in the 21st century economy."
The funding will be divided into four consortium efforts:
- Baltimore Regional Green Tech Workers Program. This effort will improve manufacturing
sustainability practices, waste stream management and "lean to green" practices in the manufacturing
sector. This project will train 705 incumbent and new workers in two tracks - the Green Worker Training
Program for new, entry-level manufacturing positions, and Purdue University's Green Workforce Training
Certificate program for incumbent workers with intermediate skills. The program will offer three levels of
certification provide through the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) and M-Tech programs at the
University of Maryland, working with local community colleges.
- Green Training for Energy Efficient Advancement. This partnership of workforce boards,
community colleges, building and trades organization and labor unions will train 850 workers to retrofit
residential, commercial and industrial buildings. This project will meet the need for skilled green
construction and trades workers expected to be needed in the Baltimore-Washington region to meet demands
for work resulting from investments funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), building
related to the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) program, and increased energy initiatives of major
utilities to comply with the Empower Maryland legislation.
- Chesapeake Area Consortium for Higher Education (CACHE): Institute for Environmental Careers.
This partnership of workforce investment boards, four community colleges and leaders from the private
sector and governments in counties surrounding the Chesapeake Bay will train 210 students with community
college credit courses leading to certificates in environmental technology. It is designed to help workers
take advantage of the environmental technology careers that are projected to grow around the Bay.
- Go Solar! Regional Partnership. This business-driven consortium will utilize existing renewable
energy curriculum, mostly from the Institute for Environmental Careers' existing courses. IBEW Local 26
and IEC-Chesapeake will act as entry-level service providers. They will collaborate with Goodwill
Industries, Job Corps, correctional facilities and existing businesses to train 480 new and incumbent
workers.
"We are projecting that at least 70 percent of the Marylanders trained through these programs will be
placed into a related job within the three-year grant period," said Eric M. Seleznow, GWIB Executive
Director. "These programs also address an immediate need to help dislocated workers, particularly those in
jobs that will never come back, to obtain the new skills they need to re-enter the workforce and participate
in the new green economy."
This latest grant follows a $4 million grant awarded by USDOL in November to the MidAtlantic Regional
Collaboration (MARC) Green Consortium, headed by DLLR's Division of Workforce Development and Adult
Learning, to define the regional green economy and develop a workforce investment plan to support it. That
consortium includes the Virginia Employment Commission, the District of Columbia Department of Employment
Services, the District of Columbia's Workforce Investment Council, the Maryland Governor's Workforce
Investment Board and the Virginia Workforce Council.
|
