Green the Block

Victor Reed is a NorthWest Carrollton resident and owner of GreenPro. He is working with New Orleans Job Corps and others to encourage Green Jobs.
Read the article from Saturday's Money Section. I'll have to scan the photos.

GREENER PASTURES
Job Corps students learn from industry experts that environmentally sound renovations can help put an end to poverty, tooSaturday, September 12, 2009 By Molly Reid Staff writer

Using Friday's anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as a backdrop, "green" building contractors told carpentry trainees in a local workforce development program that they could be part of the emergence of industries that promote alternative energy sources and building practices sensitive to the environment.

The trainees can participate in an unprecedented effort to reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil, the contractors said.

Five carpentry students with the New Orleans Job Corps, a job training program for low-income young adults financed by the state Department of Labor, met with representatives of Brotherhood Way, a weatherization contracting firm, at a blighted Hollygrove house that will undergo an energy-efficient renovation later this fall.

Giving the trainees a glimpse of the kinds of new jobs that green-building advocates hope to see explode in the next few years, the contractors called the industry shift a "path out of poverty."

"Reducing our dependence on foreign oil . . . our soldiers fought for our right with that," said David Weathersby with Brotherhood Way. "Now it's our job to make the community aware of the green, clean economy.

"It's a positive change for young minds. We're trying to get the local community involved so we can give them these green jobs."

The event was part of the New Orleans Job Corps' participation in Green the Block, a national day of service hosted by Green For All, a national nonprofit that promotes the creation of green jobs, and the Hip Hop Caucus, which works to involve young urban adults in important political and environmental issues. The Job Corps was the New Orleans area's only participant in the national event.

In addition to bringing some carpentry trainees together with contractors, the Job Corps hosted an informational fair for the rest of its 250 trainees in carpentry, medical assistance and culinary arts programs. Representatives of local environmental and workforce training groups such as Global Green and the Louisiana Green Corps offered information about the green economy and the potential for new jobs, said Job Corps liaison Randy Savoie.