University of Massachusetts Lowell University of Massachusetts Boston University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Developing Green Jobs and Career Paths: The University of Massachusetts as a Leader in Growing the Green Economy SCHOOLS University of Massachusetts Lowell: public university; 13,602 students; Lowell MA University of Massachusetts Boston; public university; 14,000 students; Boston MA University of Massachusetts Dartmouth; public university; 17,284 students, Dartmouth MA ABSTRACT The green economy is one of the fastest-growing sectors in Massachusetts. Three University of Massachusetts campuses (Boston, Dartmouth and Lowell) collaborated to foster the continued growth and competitive advantage of Massachusetts green economy. focused on promoting clean energy by convening clean energy employers, government, trade unions, and the state's education and training community for (1) a workforce development forum; (2) a career pathways working session; and (3) the first of three Clean Energy Industry Economic and Workforce Development Leadership Summits. UMass Boston focused on developing the green economy workforce by creating the Green Jobs Knowledge Model to engage K-12, pre-collegiate and the campus communities. UMass Dartmouth developed a green certification pipeline for training and education. Funding sources include the University of Massachusetts President's Creative Economy Initiatives Fund, the New England Clean Energy Council, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, the Commonwealth Corporation, the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Energy (through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act). GOALS AND OUTCOMES Goals Our overall goal was to support the continued prominence of the green economy in Massachusetts through better communication and collaboration between the private sector, government agencies, advocacy groups, K-12 schools, workforce investment programs, training providers, and higher education. Our work on the clean energy industry focused on: 1. Better collaboration within and across state institutions of higher learning, K-12 schools, vocational/technical schools, workforce investment programs, training providers and employers; 2. Career pathways within and between organizations and institutions so that all parts of society can take full advantage of and participate in developing the clean energy sector. Accomplishments and Outcomes We have successfully worked with and convened a wide variety of individuals and organizations to identify ways to better support and grow the green economy in Massachusetts. We designed and
facilitated four events in partnership with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and the New England Clean Energy Council: Clean Energy Workforce Development Forum (6/4/09) Clean Energy Career Pathways: A Working Session (10/28/09) Initial Meeting of the Clean Energy Career Workgroup (2/11/10) Massachusetts Clean Energy Industry Economic and Workforce Development Leadership Summit: Supporting & Growing the Clean Energy Sector in Massachusetts (6/23/10) [An additional 2 regional Summits are also being planned.] The Clean Energy Career Workgroup continues to work on (1) school and community based education around the clean energy sector and green economy and (2) clean energy/green economy career pathways. Specific activities in school and community bases education include (1) an articulation agreement to be piloted at one high school that will add value to existing high school, community college, and college curricula by including a Clean Energy/Green Economy content and (2) participation in revisions to the state s curriculum frameworks regarding energy and environmental education. Outputs from the Workgroup s focus on career pathways includes a pathway that gets a participant from point A to point E: basic profile of participants (i.e. lower income vulnerable populations, limited skills, post secondary education etc), the training and education levels required (i.e. job readiness training), apprenticeship opportunities, occupation specific training, entry level jobs and beyond, including higher education within certain jobs. The Workgroup is developing pathways for solar, wind, weatherization, and sustainable small businesses. It should also be noted that these events also increased the visibility of the campuses to a wide variety of companies, government agencies and organizations. They also improved existing connections between the university campuses, with state colleges and community colleges and their capacity for future collaboration. Other accomplishments by partners in the collaboration between the UMass campuses included: 1. The development of a Post Baccalaureate Certificate in Sustainability Development at UMass Dartmouth. On-line courses will include Carbon and Energy Management, Renewables and Sustainability Management. Students will also work with their communities to develop baseline carbon and energy assessments. Initially offered as non-credit, the courses will form the basis for a credit-bearing certificate. 2. A grant from the U.S. Department of Energy which will support UMass Dartmouth and its partners to develop a weatherization training center and sustainability center in New Bedford, MA. 3. UMass Dartmouth partnered with the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development Department (SRPEDD) on several regional conferences on food, energy, and transportation resiliency. These conferences have led to the development of The Southeastern Massachusetts Council on Sustainability, a partnership between the university and SRPEDD as well as 27 cities and towns, environmental, economic development, and community groups. Five working groups of the council (transportation, natural resources, economic development, energy, and food) are working on developing sustainability indicators for the region as well as on resiliency plans. 4. At UMass Boston, students with a background in the environment were solicited to be hired for a Green Workshop leader position and internships with UMass Boston s Pre-collegiate (Upward Bound/Urban Scholars) and UMBe Green Sustainability program. These student-based leadership positions engaged students on environmental issues with the goal of these students reaching out to the other students in their programs as well as exposing them to the possibility and breadth of green
jobs. Programs infused the sustainability theme within curriculum and included courses in sustainable architecture and design, hands-on media and textile projects with environmental themes, field trips to sustainable farming, guest speakers, nutrition and organic food awareness, urban environmental pollution and environmental justice issues and outreach to other youth environmental networks. UMass Boston s Career Services and the Sustainability program have an ongoing interest in the Green Economy and have made an effort to tag appropriate job and internship opportunities as green jobs when they post in their electronic database as well as supplement career resources. A Green Library has newly been established with the campus UMBe Green Sustainability Program for use by both teachers and staff for the pre-collegiate programs. Contents include audio-visual and print resources on green careers, sustainable living, environmental games and environmental leadership case studies. These co-curricular programs supplement many historically existing degree programs in environmental sciences, environmental management, ecosystem and marine collaborative research both within departments and with other sister campuses. Challenges and Responses 1. Whether within an academic institution, across sister institutions, or outside of or institutions, collaboration requires time and energy to invest in networks, partnerships and relationships. At times, it has been a challenge to coordinate and connect with the multitude of organizations and individuals who are involved in green jobs training and education. We simply kept at it and were always encouraged with results that we would never have been able to achieve without partners. 2. In the beginning of the project, a challenge was the variety of definitions of the clean energy sector that ranged from weatherization, auditing, energy efficiency, manufacturing, engineering, renewable sources of energy, research and new product development. This was an initial issue because people often talked about workforce development needs from their own view of what a green job was. Some would only talk about training for entry level jobs such as weatherization while others would only talk about the need for more engineers. Similarly, some were primarily interested in the social justice aspect of a green economy while others only saw it in terms of business development. The meetings we designed and facilitated served as a bridge between these different perspectives and helped broaden the thinking of individuals and organizations interested in promoting the green economy and particularly the clean energy industry in Massachusetts. Campus Climate Action: Your School s On-Campus Sustainability Projects As part of the hands-on training, students at UMass Boston who interned with the UMBe Green sustainability program were exposed to the Master Planning process of the campus and were challenged to do research on green buildings and both capital and operational expenses in establishing and running green programs as well as sponsored for various clean energy and sustainability related conferences such as Greenbuild and NESEA. Students were also aided with capstone courses and presentations related to green roofs, local foods, compostable dining etc and invited to Master Planning Meeting for their input as members. Commentary and Reflection
Recommendations from our collaborative work on our respective campuses, working with each other and with our external partners include: 1. Build and maintain networks, partners and relationships: within your academic institution, across institutions, and with the wide variety of people and organizations who share an interest. 2. Become the bridge that connects people. 3. Build your institution s reputation as a key player and source of integrity among people with different agendas and views. 4. Keep neutral respect your institution s integrity and reputation. 5. Make any and all meetings and/or training sessions interesting and fun; emphasize interaction instead of over-reliance on Powerpoint. 6. Keep people within your institution aware of progress; offer them opportunities to get involved even if they are not part of the core group doing the work. 7. Believe that opportunities will arise even when collaborations hit a rough spot. 8. Be flexible and adapt when opportunities do arise. 9. Green jobs sometimes is more than just clean energy and try to be as inclusive as possible without losing focus. ENGAGEMENT AND SUPPORT Leaders and Supporters David Turcotte, Center for Family, Work, and Community Madeline Snow, Lowell Center for Sustainable Production Ken Geiser and Cathy Crumbley, Lowell Center for Sustainable Production John Duffy, Professor and Coordinator of Solar Engineering Graduate Program Janet Clark, Toxics Use Reduction Institute Joann Vaillette, Student Intern Shreya Vyas, Student Intern Sarah Wakin, Student Intern UMass Boston Aditi Pain, UMass Boston Sustainability Josephine Corro, UMass Boston Pre-Collegiate Programs Joan Becker, Vice Provost for Academic Support Services Program Erica Pernell, Upward Bound Annya Haughton, Urban Scholars Len Konarski, Director, Career Services & Internships Programs Catherine Larson, Assistant Director, Career Services & Internships Programs UMass Dartmouth Susan Jennings, Office of Campus and Community Sustainability Dean Frank Muller-Karger, SMAST Nathan Byrne, Student Intern Tom Paine, Student Intern Kelly Rebeiro. Student Intern Massachusetts Clean Energy Center Marybeth Campbell, Workforce Development Program Director, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center
New England Clean Energy Council Kevin Doyle, Green Economy Funding and Resources The collaboration between the three campuses was supported by two rounds of seed money provided by the University of Massachusetts President's Creative Economy Initiatives Fund. Additional funding was then obtained from the New England Clean Energy Council, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, the Commonwealth Corporation, the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Energy (through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act). Employer and Other School Partnerships The three campuses collaborative efforts have all relied heavily on strong partnerships with private companies, advocacy groups, training providers, government agencies and other educational institutions. Education and Community Outreach Each of the campuses has used its extensive networks as well as radio and press to inform and engage our local and regional communities. CONTACT INFORMATION Contacts UMass Boston UMass Dartmouth David Turcotte Senior Program Manager, Center for Family, Work, and Community 978-934-4682 David_Turoctte@uml.edu Aditi Pain Manager, UMBe Green Recycling/Sustainability Program UMass Boston 617-287-5083 Umbe.green@umb.edu Madeline Snow Director, EMS Service Program, Lowell Center for Sustainable Production 978-934-4875 Madeline_Snow@uml.edu Susan Jennings Director, Office of Campus and Community Sustainability UMass Dartmouth 508-910-6484 Sjennings@umassd.edu Case study submitted by: Madeline Snow Director, EMS Service Program, Lowell Center for Sustainable Production madeline_snow@uml.edu MORE ABOUT YOUR SCHOOLS Campus Sustainability History All three campuses have a long history promoting sustainability. For a sampling of the campuses many and varied sustainability approaches, please see the following websites:
Sustainability at www.uml.edu/sustainability/default.html Lowell Center for Sustainable Production www.sustainableproduction.org/ UMass Boston s UMBe Green Recycling and Sustainability www.umb.edu/administration_finance/auxiliary_services/recycling_sustainability/index.html UMass Dartmouth Office of Campus and Community Sustainability www1.umassd.edu/sustainability/ The Clean Energy Workforce Development Forum (6/4/09) and Clean Energy Career Pathways: A Working Session (10/28/09) were made possible through a grant from the University of Massachusetts President's Creative Economy Initiatives Fund to a project, Developing the University of Massachusetts as a Leader in Growing the Green Economy, a collaboration between UMass Boston, UMass Dartmouth and with additional support from the New England Clean Energy Council.