GreenWays

A Jobs for the Future Initiative

The GreenWays initiative provides high-quality workforce services to employers and to workers seeking to advance their careers in the green economy. The initiative invests in 20 workforce partnerships across six diverse industry sectors in eight metropolitan labor markets. It builds on JFF’s approach of organizing employers and workforce resources into sectoral workforce partnerships to promote career advancement for lower-skilled workers.

JFF's Approach

The promise of the green economy for lower-skilled workers is enticing. Wages in the green economy are both higher than the national median and often accessible to workers with relatively little formal education. Many jobseekers from mature industry sectors can qualify for employment in the green economy by enhancing skills they already have, while emerging sectors such as clean energy are creating new job titles, with new skill requirements. In all cases, GreenWays workforce partnerships develop a deep understanding of the needs of employers within a sector and organize workforce development resources to prepare people for jobs that are available in the local labor market.

The GreenWays initiative is preparing thousands of low-income adults for jobs with career advancement potential in these sectors of the green economy:

• Advanced manufacturing;
• Construction of energy-efficient buildings;
• Deconstruction of structures that have outgrown their use;
• Landscaping and urban forestry;
• Renewable electric power and utilities; and
• Transportation.

JFF and our partners are developing green job training programs that meet regions’ specific labor market needs. With eight regional funding collaboratives as local partners, GreenWays is building pathways for workers to enter green occupations through 20 workforce partnerships that align literacy, occupational training, support services, career coaching, and other resources with the needs of employers in these sectors.

Through the GreenWays initiative, JFF and our national partners provide technical assistance and peer learning opportunities to facilitate and support the development of a national network of green workforce development expertise among participating communities. This support focuses on fostering effective employer engagement, strengthening the links of workforce partnerships to organized labor, improving training curricula and aligning workforce programs with union pre-apprenticeship standards, and increasing the enrollment and success of women and underserved minorities in these well-paying, nontraditional occupations.

Partners 

The GreenWays initiative is a national partnership bringing together:

• Jobs for the Future
• Wider Opportunities for Women 
• AFL-CIO Working for America Institute 
• National Fund for Workforce Solutions 

The local GreenWays partners are eight regional funding collaboratives of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions: SkillWorks (Boston), The Partnership for New Communities (Chicago), Fund for Innovative Workforce Solutions (Detroit), Workforce Funding Collaborative of Greater Los Angeles, Milwaukee Area Workforce Funding Alliance, Job Opportunity Investment Network (Philadelphia), SkillUp Washington (Seattle), and the Greater Washington (DC) Workforce Development Corporation.

Site Descriptions

• Boston: SkillWorks supports the Partnership for Automotive Career Education—PACE—a workforce partnership training for automotive specialty technicians. Funder: Green Jobs Innovation Fund
• Chicago: Two local affiliates, The Partnership for New Communities and the Chicago Community Foundation, support training in energy-efficient building skills and residential weatherization, integrated pest management, and advanced manufacturing. Funders: Pathways Out of Poverty; Green Jobs Innovation Fund
• Detroit: The Detroit and Southeast Michigan Fund for Innovative Workforce Solutions supports training in hazardous-waste remediation, weatherization, and landscaping. Funders: Pathways Out of Poverty; Green Jobs Innovation Fund
• Los Angeles: The Los Angeles Workforce Funder Collaborative supports training in residential weatherization, energy-efficient building practices and environmental remediation, renewable electric power, and energy-efficient vehicle maintenance. Funder: Pathways out of Poverty
• Milwaukee: The Milwaukee Area Workforce Funding Alliance supports training in energy-efficient building, construction, and retrofitting; energy-efficient infrastructure construction and retrofitting; urban forestry; solar thermal panel installation; and automotive technology. Funders: Pathways Out of Poverty; Green Jobs Innovation Fund
• Philadelphia: The Job Opportunity Investment Network—JOIN—supports training in residential weatherization, deconstruction, and solar panel installation. Funders: Pathways Out of Poverty; Green Jobs Innovation Fund
• Seattle: SkillUp Washington supports pre-apprenticeship training in green construction and utilities. Funder: Green Jobs Innovation Fund
• Washington, DC: The Greater Washington Workforce Development Corporation supports pre-apprenticeship training in green construction. Funder: Green Jobs Innovation Fund

Funders

The GreenWays initiative is funded by two U.S. Department of Labor grants—Pathways Out of Poverty and the Green Jobs Innovation Fund—totaling $16 million.