A new report from Surdna grantee the Transportation Equity Network presents the first-ever compilation of data from all 50 states on their use of on-the-job-training and apprenticeship programs to boost job access for minorities and women in the federal highway construction field. The Road to Good Jobs: Making Training Work finds that most states are doing a poor job of using proven training programs to boost highway construction job access for minorities and women, though unemployment rates for minorities are nearly double those of whites, and female unemployment is ticking up while male unemployment is dropping.
The study finds that:
The study also provides detailed rankings on which states are using training and apprenticeship programs to make real progress toward equity and diversity in highway construction, and which states are failing to recruit and train women and minorities. The study also describes the steps necessary to improve states’ progress, and provides local, state and federal policy recommendations.
Click the image at the top right of this page to download the report.
Yesterday in Albany New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, affirmed that energy efficiency retrofits are top job creators, and praised specifically New York’s recently passed on-bill financing law – a policy crafted by Surdna grantee the Center for Working Families. He said “this on-bill financing is a very big deal that I think every region should maximize,” adding that the program deserves more publicity than it's received.
The promise of a green economy, the idea of creating the dual benefit of jobs creation and environmental benefit, has been discussed and debated at length. On the one hand are those who see it as having the potential to be one of the great economic drivers of our time. On the other are those who argue that these jobs are elusive and difficult to quantify.
A new study by the Brookings Institution, "Sizing the Clean Economy: A National and Regional Green Jobs Assessment," seeks to address these concerns by presenting detailed employment statistics on the clean economy industries in the U.S. and its metropolitan areas.
Among the findings in the study:

Visit the Brookings Website for more information and to download the report. In addition to the report is an interactive indicator map which provides aggregate information on the clean economy for metropolitan areas, states and the nation.
The Surdna Foundation announced today that Michelle Knapik has been named as the new Director of its Sustainable Environments Program. Ms. Knapik will join the Foundation in mid-July, and succeeds Sharon Alpert who now serves as Surdna's Senior Director of Programs and Strategy.
For the past six years Ms. Knapik has been the Environment Program Director at the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation in New Jersey. In that role, she developed innovative grantmaking strategies to support sustainable community solutions, in close partnership with grantees, civic and business leaders, and funding colleagues in the region. While at Dodge, Ms. Knapik also worked closely with the Foundation's Arts and Culture program, funding projects at the intersection of the environment, culture and New Jersey's creative economy.
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