What Is the Oakland Green Jobs Corps?
The Oakland Green Jobs Corps will be a complete job training pathway for Oakland residents with barriers to employment. It will provide wraparound services including case management, soft skills, hard skills, and vocational training. Participants will finish the program with paid internships in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. The Oakland Green Jobs Corps will be based on the "Pinderhughes Model", which was developed by Professor Raquel Pinderhughes. This "Green Collar Jobs" model can be accessed online through Raquel Pinderhughes' personal website.
The Oakland Green Jobs Corps is expected to launch in early 2008, using seed funding provided by Oakland City Council.
The Oakland Green Jobs Corps will be administered by the City of Oakland's Community and Economic Development Agency (CEDA). There will be a Request for Proposals (RFP), inviting workforce training institutions or other educational institutions to competitively apply for the funding. Before the RFP is available for applications, it will undergo a six-month design process, inviting input from the public on how it should be designed.
The money from the City of Oakland is considered "seed funding." It will require some matching funds from a workforce-training program, and will also require other long-term sources of funding after 2007.
How will the Oakland Green Jobs Corps connect with green business?
The Oakland Apollo Alliance is conducting an inventory of green businesses in Oakland to create a categorized database of employers. This study will be completed in Summer 2007. Using this list, the Apollo Alliance will then convene a Green Business Council that can help guide the training curriculum and provide the internship placements for Oakland Green Jobs Corps trainees.
The Apollo Alliance will partner with Mayor Ron Dellums and the Chamber of Commerce's Green Economy Cluster to invite these businesses to join the Green Business Council. We will involve at least 20 local and regional green employers in the Green Business Council. Each firm will agree to provide internship positions for Oakland Green Jobs Corps trainees. If you own such a business, or are connected to one that may wish to participate, please let us know!
What is the Oakland Apollo Alliance?
The Oakland Apollo Alliance is a coalition effort of labor unions, environmentalists, community-based organizations and green businesses, working together to create quality jobs in the new energy economy. The Oakland Apollo Alliance is co-convened and staffed by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW Local 595).
For more information...
... about the Oakland Green Jobs Corps, click here for a summary report on its goals, structure, and activities. You can also contact Ian Kim at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Email Ian or 510-428-3939 x237
