Women Working
in Environmental Protection Teleconference
September 29, 2010; 2:00 pm
– 3:00 pm ET
Coordinator: Welcome, and thank you for standing
by. At this time all participants will
be in a listen-only mode until the question and answer session of the call.
To ask a question
at that time please press star 1. Today's
conference is being recorded. If you
have any objections you may disconnect at this time.
I would now like
to turn the call over to Sarah Miller. You
may begin.
Sarah
Miller: Thanks, Daniela. My name is Sarah Miller from the U.S.
Department of Labor Women's Bureau. And
I want to thank everyone for joining us today for the Women Working in
Environmental Protection teleconference.
This is the
Women's Bureau's sixth in a series of seven teleconferences for workforce
practitioners, designed to offer information and an exchange of ideas to better
connect women with green jobs training and green employment.
This area of
workforce development is an important part of preparing our nation to be
competitive in the new economy.
If you didn't have
the opportunity to participate in the previous teleconferences, you may visit
the Women's Bureau Web site at www.dol.gov/wb to
review the topics and materials.
And it is now my
pleasure to introduce the Director of the Women's Bureau, Sara Manzano-Díaz. Director Manzano-Díaz has spent her career in
public service, advocating on behalf of working class families, women, and
girls.
She has more than
25 years of federal, state and judicial experience. And we're fortunate that she is now leading
the Bureau's efforts to promote green career pathways for women. Director Manzano-Díaz.
Sara
Manzano-Díaz: Thank you so much Ms.
Miller. Welcome everyone to today's
conference call on Women Working in Environmental Protection. This, as Sarah said, is our sixth
teleconference call that the Women's Bureau has hosted this year on women in
green jobs.
We're very excited
that you're all here with us today. We
have an impressive group of speakers who have much insight to share with us
about their experience. And we really
appreciate that very much.
I want to welcome
you on behalf of our Secretary, Secretary Hilda Solis. And her vision is that everyone should have a
good job. She is fully supportive of
working women.
And many of you
will remember that she participated in our women working in alternative energy [teleconference]
in August. Some of you may not know that
the Women's Bureau is a jewel within the Federal Government.
It was created by
Congress in 1920, two months before women actually had the right to vote. The Women's Bureau is celebrating its 90th
anniversary this year.
And in June, our
First Lady, Michelle Obama, spoke at our 90th anniversary celebration. And the President actually issued a
proclamation with regard to our good work [Editor’s Note: See the
Proclamation here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-proclamation-90th-anniversary-department-labor-womens-bureau
and the First Lady’s remarks here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-first-lady-womens-bureau-90th-anniversary-ev].
After 90 years,
there's still much to be done to secure good jobs with good wages for
The Women's Bureau
vision is to empower all working women to achieve economic security. The Women's Bureau is taking the lead to
ensure that women are aware of and prepared to succeed in the emerging green
sector jobs.
Last year the
Women's Bureau hosted 30 women and green jobs roundtables across the country
from September to December 2009. According
to the roundtable participants, the lack of awareness and information about
green jobs is a key challenge that women face.
In response to
that, the Women's Bureau will issue a publication this fall which will be -
which will give women the information they need to succeed in the green
emerging economy.
The guide will
provide women workers and workforce development professionals with information
on
·
The benefits of green jobs for women;
·
The range of in-demand and emerging green jobs,
including those in science, technology, engineering, and math (which we call
·
Overcoming the challenges that we all know exist;
·
Educational and training opportunities;
·
Finding a green job;
·
Green entrepreneurship. We actually have incubated some green
entrepreneurs in
·
Women succeeding in green jobs; and
·
Planning your green career -- this section has lots of
tools and worksheets so that women can work through that.
The Women's Bureau
has funded nine green job projects around the country. These projects serve as models in preparing
women for the high-growth and emerging green jobs over the next decade.
And I'd like to
say that I want to thank all of you for your participation and being a
collaborative partner with us in this process.
We actually hope that our guide will be launched either in October or
early November.
So we're very
excited about it. And we just want to
say thank you for being great partners. And
with that I just want to say welcome. And
I want to turn it back to Ms. Miller. Ms. Miller.
Sarah
Miller: Thank you. I would now like to introduce Colleen Graber
who will facilitate the rest of our call today. Ms. Graber is a Project Manager
at Public Policy Associates, Inc. where she is collaborating with the Women's
Bureau to develop the Women's Guide to Green Jobs, as well as coordinating this
teleconference series.
Ms. Graber has
extensive experience in workforce economic development and education policy and
has conducted evaluation and strategic planning work for a variety of clients
at the federal, state and local levels. Colleen.
Colleen
Graber: Give an overview of what
we're going to be hearing from the speakers today. Today's teleconference will include
presentations by several individuals successfully working in and addressing
workforce needs in environmental protection industry.
Dr. Hoang will be
speaking about environmental health and justice considerations. Ms. Martin will discuss environmental
remediation opportunities. And then we
will hear about related jobs training program from EPA’s Joe Bruss and Oregon
Tradeswomen’s Connie Ashbrook.
Following the
presentations we will take questions for the speakers. Let me begin by introducing Dr. Hoang. She is WE ACT [for Environmental Justice’s] Director
of Environmental Health, General Counsel.
She uses public
health and legal research to develop legislative and policy strategies aimed at
achieving a safe, healthy and sustainable environment for low-income
communities of color, especially those in
In addition, she
collaborates with WE ACT’s organizing team to host workshops, trainings, [and] public
meetings informing community members about the legal and political factors that
influence land use and economic development in their area.
Prior to joining
WE ACT, Ms., excuse me, Dr. Hoang worked with environmental justice
organizations in
Dr.
Anhthu Hoang: Hello? Hello?
Colleen
Graber: Hello, we can hear you.
Dr.
Anhthu Hoang: Yes, can you hear me?
Colleen
Graber: Yes, go ahead.
Dr.
Anhthu Hoang: Okay good, sorry. Yes, so I'm going to begin by telling you a
little bit about WE ACT. WE ACT was
founded in 1988 around the
And it was founded
by a woman, Peggy Shephard, who continues to steward our ship today. And presently we are working on a variety of
campaigns to win a healthy environment and healthy home for communities of
color, especially those in our immediate catchment area of
So a lot of our
work involves what folks are calling the green economy. So I just wanted to start out by giving a bit
of a critique on what is currently considered by government entities and
mainstream environmental groups about the green sector.
First of all, most
- if you look at most of the discussion, it's really difficult to identify what
folks mean by green because the way that green jobs are defined is very narrow. [Editor’s Note: For the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of
Labor Statistics (BLS) definition of green jobs, see http://www.bls.gov/green/green_definition.pdf. More information on the BLS initiative to
measure green jobs is available at: http://www.bls.gov/green/.]
It narrowly
describes work that literally involves things that are colored green. So, you know, you have workers in the areas
of landscaping, parks maintenance to agriculture. And more recently in the urban context of
And secondly,
green jobs are considered those that reuse materials, like recycling or
composting, or reduce carbon emissions. That
is more along the lines of transit and transportation or energy efficiency.
But, you know, we
think at WE ACT that the green economy should be defined more broadly. It should be about greening existing
industries and making sure that workers work in safe and healthy environments.
And the things
that they make and the way that those things are made are protective of health
for the environment and the people who live around facilities that make them.
So a lot of folks
ask why are environmental justice advocates involved in talking about labor
issues like green jobs? Well,
environmental justice communities have very high unemployment. And we need services and modernization.
The sort of
services and products that are produced by the "green economy." Labor and environmental justice also
intersect in our ultimate goals. And
that is creating healthy communities that are self-sustaining economically and
generating skills and jobs that are - that advance our communities.
WE ACT has
demonstrated a number of these collaborations could work in our partnerships
with the transit workers union where we helped develop an environmental health
and safety training scheme with the labor union. That was ultimately used to curtail a lot of
environmental practices that harmed our local environment such as bus idling
and construction.
We've also done
some work with the carpenter's union. And
we looked at ensuring safety and health training for the folks who are working
in carpentry trades. Because they -
their work involves a lot of what's called volatile organic compounds which can
trigger a variety of respiratory problems including asthma. And also contributes to the development of
cancer.
As far as what we
can see as the needs for job training, a lot of workers, and especially women,
we think that government should design incentives and policies that promote
health and environmental sustainability.
And in doing so,
they should develop these programs with the part - in partnership with the
private sector because those are the folks that are generating the jobs and
monitoring the workplaces and ensure considerations of health and safety.
And not just to
put in infrastructure to ensure these things, but to train workers on good
practices and what poor practices do to their own health and the health of the
environments that they live in.
And then also to
ensure continued advancement and education so that folks can transition into
management positions, and not just to entry-level positions. And importantly, consider health
considerations that are beyond sort of the physical manifestations of health.
And what I mean by
that is that workplaces need to consider mental health of their workers and
especially with respect to women. I
think a lot of these programs need to consider all the externalities that go
into a worker's life outside of the workplace.
So family issues,
housing issues, disease and health issues that are outside of the workplace --
to give support mechanisms for women to sort of deal with these problems so
that they can concentrate on their work and not endanger themselves when
they're working in these environments.
So, you know,
those are the things that we think are needed to ensure a just transition into
the new economy. And give folks a way
out of the cycle of poverty that so many times they find themselves in.
That's the
presentation for us. Thank you.
Colleen
Graber: Thank you very much. Next we'll move on to Ms. Martin. Ms. Martin has significant experience in
ecological assessments with emphasis on aquatic ecosystems.
Her work includes
wetland delineations, wetland inland lake and stream permits, wetland
mitigation, bio monitoring, habitat management plans, threatened and endangered
species surveys, restoration planning, natural future inventories, and
environmental assessments and impact statements.
She has been with
Dianne
Martin: Yes. Can you hear me?
Colleen
Graber: Yes, we can. Go ahead please.
Dianne
Martin: Thanks Colleen for having
me today. I'm going to be giving our
listeners a little bit of a perspective on green jobs from the environmental
consulting industry.
I'm going to start
out by talking a little bit about our company.
And then my career and a little bit then about our feeling of what's
going to be hot in the green jobs in the future.
We've also had
some larger longer-term clients that have taken us out of the country to
perform projects in
And as I stated,
we're a full service environmental consulting firm. We're a little bit unique from other firms in
our area in that we are solely an environmental consulting firm. We are not engineers. We are not architects. We focus solely on environmental services.
We have several
different groups here that focus on different types of environmental
consulting. I'm the Director of the
Ecological Resource Group. And most of
my work focuses on the natural features of our area, mostly doing wetland and
water quality assessments including wetland delineations, permitting,
mitigation, stream assessments, river restoration, endangered species surveys,
stormwater management, and NEPA compliance work, environmental assessments, and
environmental impact statements.
[Editor’s Note: The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies to
integrate environmental values into their decision making processes by considering
the environmental impacts of their proposed actions and reasonable alternatives
to those actions.]
We also have a
property services group that focuses more on the due diligence aspect of
consulting, largely Phase 1 environmental site assessments, Phase 2
environmental site assessment investigation, as well as contamination
remediation.
And some of the
more indoor work like light assessments, asbestos abatement and mold
investigations. And then we also have a
brownfield redevelopment service group that focuses on brownfield grant
administration, preparation of brownfield plans, and tax credit applications.
A whole host of
redevelopment planning both from a site remediation aspect, as well as from a
financial perspective. We service a
whole host of markets. And I think
that's been one of the reasons why our company has been able to withstand this
down economy so well. We do a lot of
different work for different clients.
Our largest
segment for clients would be developers, real estate agents and brokers. We do a lot of wetland and Phase 1
investigations for people looking to develop.
And then we also
have increased our municipal work in the past ten years since I've been here. And as well as doing work for manufacturers
and transportation agencies, and a fair amount of work for all the other
different market segments.
I wanted to give
you a little bit of an idea of some specific projects that we do for our
various types of clients. For our
municipal clients we administer environmental ordinances, whether it's a
wetland ordinance or a natural features protection ordinance.
We do site
remediation for our municipal clients that have properties within their
boundaries that need to be cleaned up. Ecological
restoration is a hot topic right now since there are so many grant dollars
being poured into the
And then we also
do a fair amount of brownfield redevelopment for municipal clients, whether
it's administering their brownfield program or helping them redevelop
contaminated properties.
For developers we
help them with brownfield work as well as looking at lead and asbestos in homes
and buildings that need to be torn down and redeveloped.
We look at their
due diligence issues before they buy properties, making sure that sites are
either clean or that the proper protection is in place if they have been
contaminated.
And then we also
do the whole host of wetland aspects, whether it's delineation or getting our
clients their permits or their mitigation.
For the
manufacturing community we do treatment wetlands are an increasing part of our
workload where we try to treat stormwater innovatively or we actually can take
contaminated ground water, send it through a treatment wetland and clean it
that way.
And then we still
have our standard contamination remediation projects, as well as industrial
compliance.
Transportation
agencies use us for wetland services for new roads, doing wetland delineations
and all of their permitting and mitigation.
As well as the NEPA compliance work which is completing an environmental
assessment or an EIS [environmental impact statement] prior to project onset.
And then we also
have done a fair amount of endangered species work for transportation projects.
I got started in
my environmental career in the '90s. I
went to
And when I
graduated, the economy was down at that point as well. And I had a hard time breaking into the field. And decided that I needed to broaden my
knowledge a little bit and went on then to get a Masters Degree from
And once I
graduated with my Masters Degree I did find that the economy was a little bit
better. And with that additional Masters Degree I was more readily capable of
finding a good job.
I started out
working for the
And after getting
that experience I moved back to
I was offered
positions in consulting and research, as well as in government. And I decided to go into consulting because I
thought it looked like it was the most interesting. And I think I made the right decision. I've been here 13 years later. And I'm now the Director of the Resource
Assessment and Management Group.
After talking to
some of the women at
Looking at what
type of projects we're still getting and things that I see on the horizon, I
see a lot of opportunity for continued ecological restoration. As I spoke earlier, there's a lot of funding
now, especially in the Great Lakes area as part of the Great Lakes restoration
initiative, where $475 million per year has been guaranteed for the next five
years for restoration efforts in the
As part of
that funding and other funding sources as well, a lot of ecological restoration
projects are occurring. And we see that
continuing on in the future.
Renewable energy
is also a growing field. We see a lot of
work for wind farm development, whether that's doing the ecological work prior
to wind farm siting, or the actual construction themselves.
We see a large
increase in interest from our clients in green buildings and getting their new
developments or buildings LEED certified.
LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
And those
buildings or developments look at innovative stormwater treatment as well as
energy efficiency. We also have seen an
increase in innovative stormwater treatment needs from our clients as part of
their green development.
And that includes
items like designing and building rain gardens, bioswales, treatment wetlands,
porous pavement and other types of innovative stormwater treatments. [Editor’s
Note: Bioswales are landscape elements designed to remove silt and pollution
from surface runoff water.]
And in addition we
also see an increase in brownfield redevelopment work from both the municipal
and development sides of things. This
includes both site assessment, grant work, and the remediation work that goes
along with it.
And finally, and
perhaps the most interesting for me recently, we've seen an increase in urban
gardening. And municipalities looking to
redevelop some of their vacant lots into urban gardens. And that has produced some work for us in
site remediation as well as Phase 1s and site planning.
In closing I'd
like to say that I would highly encourage anyone, including women of course, to
consider the environmental field for a career, even in this economy.
Not only are there
the traditional types of environmental employment opportunities, but a whole
suite of new environmental fields to explore.
Colleen
Graber: Thank you very much, Ms. Martin.
Dianne
Martin: Thank you.
Colleen
Garber: Next we will move on to Mr.
Bruss and Ms. Ashbrook. Joe Bruss serves
as the environmental justice and job training grant program coordinator at the
U.S. EPA's [Environmental Protection Agency] Office of Brownfields and Land
Revitalization where he's worked for the past six years.
In 2009 Joe was
awarded a U.S. Fulbright Grant to conduct research on the integration of
equitable development principles in Dutch redevelopment projects in the
And before coming
to EPA, he worked in land acquisition and program coordination.
Connie Ashbrook is
the Executive Director of Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. (OTI), a non-profit
organization dedicated promoting success for women in the trades through
education, leadership and mentoring.
Previous to her 14
years with OTI, she worked in the trades for 17 years as a dump truck driver,
carpenter apprentice, and an elevator constructor. She was the first woman in
Connie served on
the Oregon State Apprenticeship and Training Council for nine years and is on
the Oregon Council on Civil Rights. So I
will turn it over to you two now. Thank
you.
Joe
Bruss: Hi, this is Joe. Can you hear me?
Colleen
Graber: Yes, we can.
Joe
Bruss: Perfect.
Connie
Ashbrook: Hi, this is Connie. Can you hear me?
Colleen
Graber: Yes, Connie, you're on.
Connie
Ashbrook: Thank you.
Joe
Bruss: Okay, again my name
is Joe Bruss. I'm with Environmental
Protection Agency's Brownfields Program.
I'll just kick it off before turning it over to Connie.
At first just
wanted to provide a little bit of overview of what the Brownfields Program and
specifically the Brownfields Job Training Grant Program is about before we hear
from Connie who's actually implemented it at the ground level.
For those who
don't know brownfields. These are sites
where there's perceived contamination.
Oftentimes there is not actual contamination, but they lay idle.
Vacant, abandoned
buildings, we're thinking the rust belt.
But it could also include old industrial factories, abandoned gas
stations, mine-scarred land and also meth labs.
It's a problem
national in scope. It's not just an
urban problem, but it's also a rural problem.
The Brownfields Job Training Program in a nutshell, it's an annual grant
program.
And the point of
the program is to provide grant funds to local governmental and
non-governmental entities and organizations to recruit, train and place
unemployed and underemployed, predominantly low-income and minority residents
of communities impacted by brownfields, with the skills needed to secure
full-time employment in remediation work and the environmental field at large.
A lot of people
ask well, why is the EPA doing job training?
Well, we've been doing it for well over a decade now. And it's one of only two really training
programs at the EPA focused on environmental training.
But we also have a
close collaboration with the Department of Labor, the Employment and Training
Administration and also the National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences.
The worker
education and training program that they administer which is really focused on
health and safety, hazardous wastes.
So the first seeds
of the Brownfields Job Training Grant Program and the Brownfields program
itself really emerged in the early '90s.
And it reflected EPA's growing concern for environmental equity, which
was later known as environmental justice, looking at the disproportionate
impact of polluting facilities, primarily in low-income and minority
communities.
Among the lessons
learned from the very first EPA brownfields pilot grants was the realization
that the communities surrounding brownfield sites were not benefitting from the
job opportunities created by the assessment and cleanup activities taking
place.
EPA realized that
these brownfields related jobs were being filled by environmental professionals
from other cities, due to a lack of environmental training among local
workforces.
It goes without
saying that brownfields are usually located in low-income, minority
communities, those that have suffered economically.
In the early
years, while EPA really didn't have the resources allocated for job training
the brownfields program. The agency had
already collaborated with the Hazardous Materials Training Research Institute
out of
With the goal of
adding a job training component to the brownfields program, EPA tapped the
expertise of a number of federal entities with established job training
programs, including the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
In 2002, President
Bush signed the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization
Act into law, known as the Brownfields Law.
This legislation amended CERCLA [Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act] to specifically authorize federal financial
assistance for brownfields revitalization including grants for assessment,
clean-up, and also job training. [Editor’s Note: The Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as
Superfund, was enacted by Congress on December 11, 1980. This law created a tax
on the chemical and petroleum industries and provided broad Federal authority
to respond directly to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances
that may endanger public health or the environment.]
CERCLA now had
language specifically authorizing job training grants under EPA's Brownfields
Program authorizing EPA to provide grants for training to facilitate the site
assessment, remediation, and clean-up of brownfield sites.
To date, EPA has
funded 169 job-training grants through the Brownfields Job Training Program,
totaling over $35 million. More than
5,800 participants have completed training.
And more than 3,800 individuals have obtained employment in the
environmental field with an average starting hourly wage of $14.65.
So where are we at
now? In 2010, the Brownfields Program
has really led an effort to more closely collaborate on workforce development
and job training with other programs within the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.
So these other
programs include the Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, who deal
with solid waste issues; the Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology,
we're talking the really contaminated sites; the Office of Underground Storage
Tanks; the Federal Facilities Program; the Center for Program Analysis, who is looking
at alternative energies; and the Office of Emergency Management.
For many, many
years through the Brownfields Job Training Grant Program we have provided
applicants the opportunity to design their own curriculums based on the hiring
needs in their communities.
We know that not
all communities have the same hiring and therefore training needs. But typical curriculums for years have really
tended to include, you know, training such as asbestos abatement, HAZWOPER [Hazardous
Waste Operations and Emergency Response], lead abatement, mold remediation,
confined space entry, the list goes on.
These jobs have
really kind of resulted in graduates obtaining work being environmental
technicians, entry-level environmental technicians. And they supplemented this core environmental
training with training such as construction skills.
But in 2010, we,
for many years now, we've kind of had to operate within the statutory limits of
the Brownfields Law. But we've seen a
lot of proposals coming in with more innovative types of environmental
training.
And as, you know,
this dialogue has really taken off on green jobs. For so long it never really existed, you
know. With the new administration,
suddenly “green jobs” was this buzz term that everyone was talking about.
But for so long, a
lot of employment and training institutions throughout the country never really
considered the environmental field to be a field worth recognizing, in my
opinion.
But suddenly it's
this really hot term, green jobs. So for
2010, the Brownfields Program, again we're the only program really in the
agency that had this environmental training program.
We really want to
grow it. So we're leading these
partnerships with other offices such as the Office of Water, the Office of Air,
and other land contamination program such as the Superfund Program, the Office
of Underground Storage Tanks, which I just mentioned to deliver training
outside the scope of just brownfields.
So as a result of
all these discussions, we're dropping the term the Brownfields Job Training
Program, and we're renaming it the Environmental Training Grant Program.
And we hope to
take this agency wide in 2012. The 2011
request for applications is going to be issued in the next few weeks, we're
hoping October 15. Again, it's an annual
grant competition. We usually award
approximately 12 to 15 grants.
This year they'll
be up to $300,000 each for two-year project periods. Again, cities, states, tribes, workforce
investment boards, community colleges, non-profit organizations, environmental
justice organizations are eligible to apply.
They design their
own training programs. And they lead recruitment
and placement activities as well, usually through partnerships with local
workforce investment boards, et cetera.
The call today
really focused on women. We have really
never distinguished that, you know, training is for a specific group of individuals. We know that men typically have been
interested in the trades and construction.
I know Connie will
probably get into this later. But, you
know, the point of this program has really been to provide a benefit to
communities with brownfields so they can benefit from the job opportunities
that are created.
And once the
brownfields activities have been completed, these individuals that have
completed the training programs have an opportunity to go on to other
environmental careers.
So I'll leave it
there and now pass it over to Connie. Thanks.
Connie
Ashbrook: Thank you Joe. Well, this is Connie [Ashbrook] from Oregon
Tradeswomen, and I want to start by thanking the EPA for their support for our
programs. And also the Women's Bureau in
our Region 10. Betty Lock and her team
have been so incredibly helpful to us as we're developing our green jobs
program, just as we developed our pre-apprenticeship program.
And Oregon
Tradeswomen has been around since 1989. We're
a non-profit dedicated to promoting success of women in the trades through
education, leadership and mentorship.
And our goal is to
help women and women of color be successful in the construction, mechanical,
and utility trades with a specialty in environmental remediation.
And we work very
closely in the
And so it's really
interesting to see all the efforts on green and environmental and how they're
all coming together.
We have three
programs – serving girls, serving adult women, and doing leadership development
and mentorship for women workers in the field – and one big event, our Women in
Trades Career Fair, and you can find our Web site by Googling Oregon
Tradeswomen. So I won't go into that.
But I want to
concentrate in this few minutes on our pre-apprenticeship program that also
prepares women for the environmental field.
It is seven weeks long, three days a week. It is free to the participants. And most all of our participants are
low-income women. We have female
instructors from industry who are also role models.
And we try to have
no more than five students to one instructor ratio so that the students get lots
of individual attention. The students
get a weekly evaluation and feedback on their performance to industry
standards, which really helps them be ready for the sometimes foreign
environments in the building construction trades or the environmental fields.
We also do our
hands-on training out in the community on different non-profits. So those job sites give students a chance to
give back to the community. At the same
time they're gaining their skills by modeling those job sites like a real
construction site.
So they get to
work with power tools, hand tools, be evaluated as to their performance and
attitudes. And that really, as I said,
that really helps them be ready for the work environment when they go into it.
Up until now we've
graduated about 100 women annually. But
because this year we not only have Women's Bureau money, Environmental
Protection Agency money, but also ARRA funds from the General Services
Administration, we'll graduate about 150 women from our pre-apprenticeship
program.
They learn the
hands-on skills, but they also get certified in 40-hour HAZWOPER OSHA ten-hour
construction safety. And then we have an
eight-hour green building module thanks to a small technical assistance grant
from the Environmental Protection Agency. And that is available if folks would like to
have that training.
So we not only
have a once a week hands-on day practice, but we do take, once a week we have
field trips to different construction sites and apprenticeship training
centers. So that women get really
familiar with industry conditions and the institutions of the industry.
I won't go into
the requirements to enter the program unless people have questions afterwards. But I want to have - show a few statistics. About 67% of the students that start the
class graduate.
And up until the
downturn in economy we had about 67% of the graduates go to work in the field. And now it's about 44%. And we're hoping to increase that through
some of our new staff, but also the EPA has new efforts to help job training
programs connect with industry. And Joe,
thank you, that's - those have been really great ideas.
Our graduates, our
entry-level wage is $13.50 to start. But
typically after three to five years they're making in the $20 to $30 an hour
range. Some of the jobs are really pure
environmental jobs like asbestos abatement or working with hazardous chemicals.
But many, many
more where the training and knowledge is an important component of their job as
electricians, plumbers, sheet metal workers, laborers. So that they can protect the environments,
fellow workers and themselves and the public from hazards that might emerge as
the work is being done in building renovation, redevelopment and jobs like
that.
So we do have
really strong after class support because sometimes in this industry it takes a
while to get established as a worker. So
even after that first placement, we continue to [offer] re-employment
assistance.
We have a monthly
social hour for networking, mentoring, job leads and social support. We have an active Facebook presence and a
volunteer program. And we have some
funding for tools, boots, childcare and additional classes, specialized
classes.
So I think I will
stop there and see what questions people might have.
Colleen
Graber: Okay. Thank you very much to our speakers today for
contributing to this overview of concerns, considerations, and opportunities in
the environmental protection field.
And special thanks
to Connie for sharing her example of her training program. Daniela, we are ready to take questions now
from the audience.
Coordinator: Thank you. At this time we're ready to being the
question and answer session. To ask a
question, please press star 1. You may
withdraw your question by pressing star 2.
Once again if you
would like to ask a question please press star 1, one moment please. Once again press star 1 to ask a question.
There's a question from Patricia O'Connor.
Your line is open.
Patricia
O'Connor: Good afternoon. Thank you very much for this discussion. I'm presently taking some classes. And I'm interested to know if I could get
some advice whether a women who has not been in the construction industry is
wise to take the LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] Green
Associates accreditation or the BPI [Building Performance Institute]?
Colleen
Graber: Dianne, can you address that?
Dianne
Martin: Yes, I'd be happy to. I think it would be fine. In our experience, the LEED programs will
give you a fair amount of information in order to take the test and get your
certification.
And I have had
associates take it that are more in the environmental field then in the
construction industry. And they have
done fine. I think as long as you have
some basic knowledge of construction and environmental principles, you would do
just fine in the class and taking the test to get certified.
Colleen
Graber: Okay, thank you very much. Next question.
Coordinator: Our next question comes from Luzdary
Giraldo.
Luzdary
Giraldo: It's Luzdary Giraldo. Thank you.
Do you have programs for immigrant women who do not speak English well? Do you provide training in other languages? And if so, what languages?
And if not, do you
partner with other organizations who provide safety and health training to
assist with the languages barrier?
Colleen
Graber: All right, thank you. Anhuthu, would you maybe have experience with
that through WE ACT?
Dr.
Anhthu Hoang: Yes, we have. I know that some electrical unions have
courses for their workers who are bilingual.
It depends on the local of the union.
And you should contact them to find out exactly what is available.
But we’ve
certainly heard of training for bilingual folks. In our environmental safety and health
training with the carpenter's union, we did it bilingually.
Colleen
Graber: Okay, great. And our next question.
Coordinator: Once again to ask a question press
star 1. Our next question comes from
Kenneth Collins.
Kenneth
Collins: Hello, this is Kenneth
Collins. Can you hear me?
Colleen
Graber: Yes.
Kenneth
Collins: Yes, I'm in
And I know that
you've mentioned wind. These are
projects, some are targeted for union laborers, some are not. And I wanted to know have you looked into
women being specifically targeted? Because
a lot of that pre-construction development does involve siting.
And I wanted to
know are there opportunities being looked at for women in the utility-scale solar
construction field? And if so, what
agency has targeted it?
Colleen
Graber: Okay, thank you. That could cover quite a few people, but
Connie, maybe you want to start being sort of in that area of the country.
Connie
Ashbrook: Well, I'm not familiar at all
with what's happening in the
So I was - I know
that they just did an all female pre-line worker, pre-apprenticeship program to
help women get into the line worker industry.
So I would try and look them up because I think they would probably have
great industry connections. And they
have that great training that could help women get prepared.
Colleen
Graber: Does anyone else want to
comment on that one in opportunities in [solar] in particular? Okay, another suggestion that may be of help.
In previous
teleconference on alternative energies, we heard from people in wind, solar and
biomass industries. And so there may be
some information in connection with that.
And that
information is available on the Women's Bureau Web site under the
teleconference information. All right
can we have our next question please?
Coordinator: Our next question comes from Jacquelyn Smith-Crooks.
Jacquelyn
Smith-Crooks: Hi, I'm in
And I will add
another little piece. I wanted to hear
more about the Guide to Green Jobs. And
seeing how it's possible to make an interface there as well.
Colleen
Graber: Okay. Well, I'll address the guide question since
I'm overseeing its production. The guide
will have information of a whole variety as Director Manzano-Díaz pointed out
at the beginning of the call.
It's aimed at
women as the audience. And will offer
resources, online and otherwise, for them to find education and training. To try and find employment in a green field.
To consider what
green career they may want to do and how best to go about that. So there's a whole variety of pieces to that. And so for others like yourselves looking at
how to make connections to facilitate some of those employment opportunities,
you know, you'll be reading it from a different perspective.
But it may give
you some information about how to connect with other community based organizations,
how to work with your local One Stop office, those kinds of things to promote
job opportunities and to connect with women to these jobs.
In terms of other
connections with the faith-based community, did one of the other speakers want
to address that?
Joe
Bruss: I'm happy to give a
little example. I know of a Reverend
down in
And she really
championed a training program for local minority, low-income individuals, including
those who were incarcerated. And trying
to find those individuals work, put them through the training program.
And, you know, she
was part of a faith-based organization. She
didn't really have, you know, the knowledge about the technical skills needed. But she knew that there were jobs associated
with a site on the border in
She really again
championed that project. And I think
she's going to be leading another project that we just funded through the EPA
in
Colleen
Graber: Great, thank you for that
example. Do we have another question?
Coordinator: Once again to ask a question press
star 1. Our next question comes from Miranda
Jones.
Miranda
Jones: Hi, I think this would
probably be for Dianne Martin because it has to do with environmental
consulting. I'm an Environmental Health
Scientist in
And I used to work
in the government, but I'm kind of looking to segue into environmental
consulting. And I'm just having a little
trouble kind of navigating the career search in
There's more on
the environmental engineering end than environmental science. I was just wondering if you knew of any sort
of Web sites or other types of resources that would help me find even those
environmental consulting firms out there in
Dianne
Martin: I'm not sure about the
And that would be
to find the professional association that matches most closely to what you want
to go into. For example if you are
really looking into going into maybe wetland science, you would find the
Professional Society of Wetland Scientists and get onto their Web site.
And they will have
a job board countrywide. And that's
pretty much how I would find employees for wetland work. And I imagine that there's something similar
for most of the types of environmental consulting positions out there.
I think it's best
too, if I were looking for a job these days I would just get involved in the
community and start networking with folks, volunteer, any opportunities you can
get to do any type of volunteer work for municipalities or non-profits to get
your name out there.
Start meeting
people working in your field. And, you
know, really word of mouth is how a lot of these jobs go these days. I think a lot of people in the consulting
field are afraid to put out too many job postings because they're getting so
inundated these days in the down economy.
And so they try to
keep these things on the down low a little bit.
So just get out there and network.
Colleen
Graber: Great. Thank you, Dianne. All right I think we have time for another
question.
Coordinator: There are no further questions.
Colleen
Graber: There are none? I 'm sorry,
Daniela, what did you say?
Coordinator: There are no further questions.
Colleen
Graber: Okay great. All right well we are right on time to end
then. So I'd like to thank all of those
who participated on the call today. And a special thanks to the Women's Bureau.
The Women's Bureau
will host the PowerPoint and fact sheet that accompanied this teleconference on
their Web site, as well as a transcript of the conversation and an audio
recording.
And that should be
up on their site within two weeks or so.
If you have any questions, you can feel free to contact myself or one of
the speakers. And we will try and get
you the answer to that.
Thank you very
much and hope you will join us for our final teleconference, which will be
taking place next month. Thank you all.