Special Report: 1.25.2010

Posted by Joe Salimando on Monday, January 25, 2010

GREEN TRAINING - YOU BE THE EXPERT!

A blow-by-blow run-down (part 1 of 2)

By Joe Salimando

Personally, I have a lot of problem with DELAY. You might blame this on my advanced age, but I've always been like this. Some things should take time; other things shouldn't. That's why the Energy Training Partnership Grants announcement from the U.S. government ticked me off from the first line. It says "On February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law" the stimulus legislation. But the associated release on the ETP grants -- covering the nearly $100 million in stim $ the Dept. of Labor sent out into the universe -- is dated 1/06/10.

What took so long? I don't know.

However, I think YOU are an expert on this. You can't claim to be a Green Genius, maybe -- but this is about training, and just about every electrical distributor I've ever worked with is involved in training in one way or another.

Here's a look at where the money is going -- 25 awards of $1.4M to $5M each -- and, more importantly, where the electrical industry fits into the picture on some of these.

1. Northwest Energy Efficiency Council, $3.88M. Puget Sound Energy (a utility) is involved, as are unnamed "labor organizations." 473 people to be trained.

2. UAW-Labor Employment & Training Corp., Missouri, $3.2M. Two of four "career pathways" in which 430 "dislocated and incumbent workers" are to be trained are "Electric Auto/Truck Battery Technician" and "Electric Motors/Devices Technician."

3. H-CAP, Inc. (NYC, CA, WA, Baltimore & DC), $4.64M. This one targets "job seekers and entry-level environmental service workers for . . . green occupations in the healthcare industry." There are 5,700 people to be trained (with curricula, webinars, and nationally recognized certificates to be developed). Seems little electrical content here.

4. Utility Workers Union of America (CA, MA, NJ), $4.99M. Targets "displaced workers, older youth, under-employed workers, and disadvantaged adults"). For the life of me, I can't put my finger on what an "older youth" might be. To be trained: 672 people. They are to "participate in pre-apprenticeship training programs and in registered apprenticeship programs." Purpose: "To create a pipeline of skilled workers prepared for utility careers." Electrical, anyone?

5. International Transportation Learning Center (NJ, NY, OH & UT), $5M. We're talking about the Transit Green Jobs Partnership program here. 3,460 workers to be trained.

6. IBEW-NECA Labor-Management Cooperation Committee for California, $5M. Yes, there is a LMCC for the whole state (note that one of my non-TED/TEDMAG assignments is as marketing coordinator for the NECA-IBEW national LMCC). Also involved in this: NEMA, the California Lighting Technology Center (at UC Davis), ICF International, and others. To be trained: 2,292 journey-level electricians.

7. Central VT Community Action Council, $4.85M. "Intensive case management and training" for 398 individuals is slated, as is some other training for 2,000 other folks. Trainees will get certificates and/or "apprenticeship and licensing credits recognized by IBEW." Gotta be some electrical in here.

8. ECIA Business Growth, Inc. gets $2.06M to train 392 folks in a 27-county region of IA, MN & WI. There's wind power in here, as well as energy-efficient building. The info says only 344 will complete the training (I wonder how they know that). Some will earn recognition of some sort as a Wind Turbine Repair Technician.

9. Institute for Career Development, $4.66M - IN, NY, OH & PA. The focus is wind technicians, solar panel installers, and geothermal maintenance workers (that seems like one heck of a soup!). The plan here is for 2,000 participants with "1,200 completing training activities" and 800 of those getting "a degree or certificate." So for every 10 trainees, 4 get some kind of recognition?

10. Ironworkers, $1.94M (CA, IL, NY, TX & UT). Training for ironworkers "who require up-skilling for the renewable wind energy sector" -- at least 510 of them. I apologize for this, but I did not previously know that "up-skilling" was used in the English language.

11. Blue Green Alliance, $5M, Minnesota. The Solar Energy Industries Assn., Honeywell, "partner unions," and others are involved in a hodge-podge of partners/participating orgs here. We're talking "certified green manufacturing training" for 2,060 workers.

12. Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership (OR & WA), $5M. The sheet metal workers' union is in here, as are others in organized labor and the Energy Trust of OR. The plan is to "conduct an analysis of the technical skills and production requirements of the renewable energy industry (can it be that such as thing remains mysterious?). The training will result in 1,325 participants getting a degree or certificate out of 1,670 who will be trained. 

13. SER-Metro Detroit, Jobs for Progress (Michigan), $4.3M. NECA and IBEW are listed here among the partners. The idea: To train 340 unemployed workers "for green jobs or apprenticeship opportunities through five training tracks."

If you're keeping score, these first 13 grants total $54.5M. They promise, collectively, to at least start to train 20,397 people.

Why all the detail? I figure you can't figure out where $787B in stimulus funding went, but -- as you know something about green, and a lot about training -- you are in position to at least consider where $100M of your money (or money your children have promised to repay, to be more accurate) is going.

NEXT TIME: The other 12 ETP grants. To cut to the chase, see the DOL release (with a table of all 25 programs) -- or see the 26-page PDF. 

	Joe Salimando of EFJ Enterprises is a consultant, web content provider, and wordsmith based in Oakton, Va. To contact him, call 703-255-1428. See also The EleBlog.
Personal Disclaimer: The appearance of the ambling pachyderm is indicative of the writer's obsession with elephants, not his political leanings.
IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS COLUMN REFLECTS ONLY THE OPINIONS OF ITS AUTHOR AND DOES NOT REFLECT THE OPINIONS OR POLICIES OF NAED, TED MAGAZINE, OR THE ADVERTISERS ON THE TEDMAG WEB SITE.