Action Example: Collaborate with local workforce partners, training providers, and other community-based organizations (see, for example, Training the Future Climate Workforce, JFF’s market scan of training providers and technologies) to continuously assess their job placement supports and needs so that these can be communicated to relevant employer partners who are hiring.  

Action Example: Learn from and coordinate with community organizers and coalitions that focus on immediate climate preparedness and cultivate support from local and state political leadership.  

Action Example: Conduct paid focus groups or interviews with community members who are disproportionately impacted by extreme weather and lack representation in the local economy to better inform short- and long-term green job planning. 

Action Example: Work with employer partners to strengthen and advance their commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) as part of both internal and external policy.

Action Example: Convene a paid roundtable or focus group specifically for workers in the region’s green job industries to garner their insights on how job quality might be improved. 

Action Example: Work with local coalitions and community organizers advocating for stronger job quality measures such as higher wages, parental and sick leave, and childcare.  

Action Example: Educate employer partners and training providers on measures of job quality (see, for example, JFF’s Quality Jobs Framework).

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We aren’t going to move the needle for everyone unless we can link those sustainability principles to quality livelihoods where people can work with dignity and earn a living wage for themselves and their families.

Action Example: Work with existing funding partners to deepen the commitment to quality green job development and assess whether or how this might expand funding for both short and long-term opportunities.  

Action Example: Create or revise a regional asset map to include stakeholders in all relevant industries to analyze collective strengths and resources in your region that might pertain to critical risk areas. 

Action Example: Explore innovative partnership development, either with new stakeholders (see, for example, Training the Future Climate Workforce, JFF’s market scan of training providers and technologies) who can mobilize quickly or with historical partners that may not yet have fully explored quality green job development.  

Action Example: Review federal and state funding opportunities for urgent or emergency climate challenges your region may be experiencing, as relevant. 

Action Example: Establish or build on relationships with local secondary career and technical education (CTE) programs to help shape curriculum that can guide student interest in green job career pathways.  

Action Example: Collaborate with local training programs and employers (see, for example, Training the Future Climate Workforce, JFF’s market scan of training providers and technologies) to share knowledge and needs around green skills and use this information to help shape future programming and hiring.  

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Many have said the greatest assets of our region [Inland Empire, California] are cheap dirt and cheap labor–we want to flip that on its head. How can we be responsible stewards of this land? How can we treat people as leaders in building healthier communities? 

Action Example: Host regular stakeholder-specific focus groups (policymakers, community-based organizations, educators, and jobseekers) to understand their needs and assess the ramifications on both short and long-term planning. 

Action Example: Work with partners to develop a green jobs agenda that details learning goals around green economy, skills, and climate to shape the direction and next steps for your region’s pursuit of quality green jobs.

Action Example: Meet with employer partners to better understand how they approach job quality and their interest in improving job quality for workers.  

Action Example: Convene a paid roundtable or focus group specifically for workers in the region’s green job industries to better understand their insights on how job quality might be improved. 

Action Example: Develop longer-term investment and sustainability plans that map out future funding possibilities and associated deadlines for investing in new green job industries, new education pathways, or new training programs and apprenticeships, etc.   

Action Example: Work with community organizers, as well as local and state policymakers and representatives on legislation that will impact the region’s future investment in quality green jobs, set regional standards, and address accountability to stated green economy and job quality goals.  

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We see federal programs that come in to do a big push in communities and all these resources get put in place, but when the grant is up, funding ends–sustainability is needed to maintain the work started without burdening the state tax structure. Funding opportunities should take into consideration the strategy needed to build long-term impact. 

Action Example: Begin or continue conversations with invested and engaged employers and policymakers to express the importance of economic resilience in the face of extreme weather.  

Action Example: Collaborate with training programs (see, for example, Training the Future Climate Workforce, JFF’s market scan of training providers and technologies) that offer credential programming in industries that might be transferrable to green skills and jobs.  

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We always keep our ears to the ground by reaching out to new partners. This helps us answer questions like what does the workforce landscape look like outside of LMI [labor market information]? Or where is the federal funding and what resources are available in different states? 

Action Example: Conduct paid focus groups or interviews with community members who are disproportionately impacted by extreme weather and lack representation in the local economy to better understand their short-term needs. 

Action Example: Learn from and collaborate with local coalitions and community organizers advocating for immediate climate preparedness and build support from local and state political leadership. 

Action Example: Work with local employers and training programs to understand any skill gaps related to emerging green industries and how to expand opportunities for both workers and jobseekers to acquire the skills or credentials needed for future green jobs.  

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Job opportunities don’t always require a four-year degree or even some types of credentials. We have to use data and other strategies, exploring more types of training for those who don’t have the traditional qualifications. 

Action Example: Determine what financial resources are needed to continue relevant programming or other efforts related to the development of green jobs.  

Action Example: Leverage existing and immediate federal investments and initiatives in the green economy, such as Justice40, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the Inflation Reduction Act. 

Action Example: Determine the overhead and programmatic capacity to apply for funding in the short and long term. 

Action Example: Establish or build on relationships with local secondary career and technical education (CTE) programs to help shape curriculum that can guide student interest in green job career pathways.

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HRWC is leading a regional effort to educate and recruit community members to begin careers in the local maritime industry. Part of this effort stems from demonstrating viable careers paths to young people. The workforce board works with 14 school districts and sits on every career and technical education board in the region, while also talking directly to all stakeholders–superintendents, guidance counselors, and students–about skills needed for wind turbine manufacturing, for example. To us, it’s important that students tour the facilities and see the training programs, so they build personal experiences with the work and excitement over what is possible with emerging green job opportunities.

Action Example: Connect and collaborate with local climate researchers to understand how extreme weather could affect your region’s local economy and learn how this information can shape your conversations with policymakers and employers. 

Action Example: Collaborate with the region’s local workforce development boards, training programs, employers, and others who may offer jobs and credential programs that are transferable to green skills and future green jobs as your region works to build up strong green job pathways and industries.  

Action Example: Work with local employers and training programs (see, for example, Training the Future Climate Workforce, JFF’s market scan of training providers and technologies) to help diversify their recruitment and retention efforts through incentives and wraparound support to better reach residents who lack representation.  

Action Example: Assess the availability of federal, state, local, and private program funding resources and the associated requirements.  

Action Example: Determine what necessary infrastructure and staff capacity are needed for both short and long-term funding and sustainability goals.