While green isn’t often the first color that springs to mind when thinking of The Bronx, a new $4 million federal grant may go a long way toward changing that.
Borough president, Ruben Diaz Jr. recently announced that a $4 million federal grant would be awarded to the Consortium for Worker Education.
The grant will help establish a program, the "Center for Environmental Workforce Training" that will prepare about 400 Bronx residents to work in the blooming "green" jobs marketplace, he announced.
"With this new training center we are taking a big step toward becoming the ‘greenest’ borough in New York City," said Diaz. "Through this program more than 400 residents will be prepared to work in the growing field of energy efficiency. It will not only train our residents but also will help us in the tough fight against unemployment."
The participants of the Center for Environmental Workforce Training program will take part in job training centered on the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries.
The program will provide training and education services offering a degree or certification for the participants, with 297 placed in training related employment.
The plan is designed to help residents with limited English proficiency, veterans and eligible spouses, persons with criminal records, disconnected youth, and women, which would help the borough’s lagging employment rates.
According to the New York State Department of Labor Statistics, the Bronx led all of New York City with a 13.9 percent unemployment rate in December 2009, a 4.4 percent jump from the same period in 2008.
Under the grant, all participants will be required to take the Consortium for Worker Education’s (CWE) sustainable mechanical and retrofitting technologies introductory courses that will get them up to speed on skills and opportunities available in the environmental sector.
The grant is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: Pathways Out of Poverty Grants, the organization said.