National Urban League’s Green Jobs Summit Focuses on Minority Inclusion

It is very trendy these days to talk about being green. The greening of America, after all, holds the promise of becoming the next great economic boon–even bigger than the dot.com bubble–that will not only create tens of thousands of jobs but also has the added value of helping the United States to play a leading role in saving the world from the adverse impacts of climate change. (In fact, creating green jobs will be part of the agenda at the White House Jobs Summit Thursday, which will be streamed live on www.whitehouse.gov/live.)

With the November unemployment numbers set to be released Friday, the Obama administration is facing critics that he’s not doing enough to stanch the flow of people filing for unemployment insurance. The unemployment rate rose from 9.8% to 10.2% in October, reported the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Of that, the African American unemployment rate has reached 17.4%.

In addition, “Food stamp assistance, a key economic indicator, is at 28% for African Americans as compared to 8% of whites,” according to statistics provided by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California). Several black lawmakers are quietly questioning the level of effort made by the White House to direct aid to black communities and have begun pushing for more targeted assistance.

As a result, green is little more than a trend for many African Americans, and Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League. He fears that as with the dot.com bubble, they will be left in the red.  “Green is good, but green has to be good for all,” he said.

Preparing communities of color to participate in the new green economy was the subject of a summit sponsored by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Shell, and hosted bythe Urban League in Washington, DC, on Wednesday. The organization has formed a Council of Green Advisors to ensure that urban communities are active and prosperous participants in the new green economy. Many of the participants agreed that getting more African Americans involved in the green movement begins with educating communities about job opportunities in such areas as the retrofitting and weatherization of homes and commercial buildings, as well as how these steps will lower their own energy bills.

“It’s not just about the environment,” said Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. “It’s also about money.” Nutter noted that upon his return trip to Philadelphia on an energy-efficient train, and as soon as he pulled up

to City Hall in his hybrid SUV, there was a 90% chance someone would ask him about finding a job. But if he were to mention opportunities in building wind turbines or installing solar panels, of which he admittedly knows little about, the conversation would soon come to an end.

The learning curve, he lamented, is just as steep for government officials like him, who must be wary about getting scammed by others who profess to know more. “We’re learning new things about this every day. It’s so far beyond what most of us have been doing that we’re trying to catch up,” he said.

Morial said that his organization is hoping to win a major grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to train people in poverty-level communities to prepare for green jobs.

Jen Worth, program manager for the American Association of Community Colleges’ Center for Workforce and Economic Development, pointed out that community colleges are playing a significant role in training or retraining people interested in green jobs. “Reach out, because we have stories and models from all across the country in a lot of different sectors,” she said.

Public policy can also play a pivotal role in getting minority communities involved. In a letter to National Economic Council director Larry Summers, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, of California; and Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Barbara Lee, of California, Morial proposed a six-point job creation plan that includes creating Green Empowerment Zones in areas where at least 50% of the population has an unemployment rate that is higher than the state average. Manufacturers of wind turbines or solar panels, for example, that open plants in these high unemployment areas would for a period of three years be eligible for a three-year holiday from federal and capital gains taxes if they hire and retain for that period at least 50% of their workforce from green empowerment zones.

Small business owners willing to open green businesses in those empowerment zones may be the most important catalyst to ensure the inclusion of minorities in green industries. Scott Sklar, president of the Stella Group Ltd., said entry is relatively easy and less capital-intensive than many other industries.

His advice to minority entrepreneurs who are interested in building green businesses is to network with organizations such as the Solar Energy Industries Association. “Find out who they are and just start talking to them,” he said. “Once you network and see the lay of the land in your area, look at the gaps … Find out where you think a new idea would make something work faster and better and then go for it.”

When forming a business that would weatherize or

retrofit buildings, for example, it’s also important to create the right team. That team should include a strong logistics person “who knows how to order, store and move stuff”; someone who knows how to market the kinds of customers you’re looking at; and someone who has a construction background or technical expertise.

Sometimes you don’t actually have to reinvent yourself, but can use what you already know to build a green industry business, said Carolyn Green, managing partner of the Pennsylvania-based Energreen Capital Management, a private equity fund in formation.

Construction management firms with experience constructing small businesses can transition to constructing green businesses, she said. Or a fabricator of precision parts may consider how to begin using those parts to create smart grid readers.

“It’s those sorts of areas where you take what you’re already doing and look at how you can supply this marketplace. I think there’s a lot of opportunity in that you don’t have to reinvent yourself necessarily to do that,” Green said. She added that African American executives who’ve worked for energy companies that are closing facilities or eliminating business lines have not only the requisite experience to operate their own energy-based small businesses but also a network through which they can form deals and access capital.