Many Blacks were left behind during the information technology boom during the 1990s, left to play catch-up with the digital divide. Now with the explosion of the green-collar industry, Blacks are at the starting line, said the Chicago Urban League’
Many Blacks were left behind during the information technology boom during the 1990s, left to play catch-up with the digital divide. Now with the explosion of the green-collar industry, Blacks are at the starting line, said the Chicago Urban League’s president.
At a forum this week aimed at making sure Blacks are part of the green economy, Cheryle Jackson said now is the time to be ahead of the curve, especially with impending funding from the federal government to aid in advancing the industry.
“With states receiving federal grants of $34 billion for energy efficiency, $8 billion for renewable energy and $10 billion to transform the electrical grid, the opportunities for green-collar jobs and growing green businesses in the Black community have never been greater,” Jackson said Monday at the Catching the Green Wave: How African-Americans Can Lead in the New Green Economy event at Ariel Community Academy elementary school.
President Barack Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides $500 million for green-collar training through the U.S. Department of Labor.
The panel of “green” experts, including Angela Ford of TAG Worldwide, said empowerment and education is the key towards capitalization of the green-collar industry. The green-collar industry is environmentally conscious of renewable energy production and efficiency, sustainable future energy development, and includes workers such as electricians, plumbers, construction workers, architects and engineers.
Ford, president and chief executive officer of TAG, a real estate and property management firm, said she educated herself through the many free courses offered throughout the city so she could pass along the green economy education to clients and other associates.
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