Posted 01/12/2010 - 10:00:00pm by David Bank
Rodney Ashley and Miguel Luna learn about solar panels at at a "green encore" training session.
The carpenters, electricians, factory workers and others who are getting a crash course in solar energy at Ohlone College in Newark, Calif., this week are testament to the promising encore opportunity to create jobs for all ages in the emerging green economy.
I've had the great pleasure to spend some time with the 28 participants who have come from around the country to learn how to set up solar training programs in their own communities. Ranging in age from their late 40s to their mid 70s, they're on fire to help high school dropouts, homeless men and women, ex-offenders, recovering addicts and other at-risk populations get ready for jobs that both pay a decent wage and help the environment. Ohlone's "green encore" solar training program is part of Civic Ventures' Community College Encore Careers program.
Their passion is palpable, both in the classroom and out in the yard where they are getting their hands dirty doing actual solar installations. The students are helping each other get through the math challenges, trading tips for speeding installations, and making plans to keep working together when the class is done. "An amazing group of people to get to teach," said Hal Aronson, the lead instructor for the class.
For example, James Smallwood, a union carpenter from the Philadelphia area who runs The Choice is Yours to train homeless people and ex-offenders in construction skills, plans to go to Detroit, to help Matthew Marks Evans of E-Three Labs set up his center to bring students and displaced autoworkers together to learn green technology. Mark Davis, the CEO of WDC Solar, who is working with a nonprofit to launch a nonprofit solar training center in Washington's Anacostia neighborhood, wants to keep the connections going by creating a network of "green encore" workforce-training and community development organizations.
On Friday, January 15, the public will have a chance to learn from the participants at a luncheon forum at Ohlone, "Expanding Green Opportunities with Encore Talent." Smallwood, Evans and Davis will discuss their programs, as will Ann Higdon from Improved Solutions for Urban Systems in Dayton, Ohio, and Zeke Guzman, from the Center for Employment Training in San Jose. Michele McGeoy from Solar Richmond, in Richmond, Calif., will present a very innovative non-profit/for-profit hybrid model that promises to drive demand, not only for solar power, but for the hiring of graduates from these kinds of programs. I've attached a (pdf) flyer for that program, or contact me for more information.
- David Bank's blog
- Login or register to post comments
- Email this page
Training the Encore Solar Trainers (comment thread)
Note: These comments are reposted from the original article -- eds.
Urban Solar Entrepreneur
Mark Davis, a former title company owner who launched WDC Solar in his encore career, is featured in The New York Times today.
Mark attended the Green Encore solar training at Ohlone College this year. To keep that group connected, he formed the Urban Solar Society of America to support initiatives creating green job opportunities in inner-city areas.
Under the heading "Green Entrepreneur," reporter Elizabeth Pope writes:
Barack Obama’s emphasis on the green economy during the presidential campaign struck a chord with Mark Davis, 51, owner of a title company in Washington. When Mr. Davis discovered there was a dearth of solar installation companies in the city, he set out to open one.
“I wanted to make sure the green economy didn’t bypass the urban environment,” he said. Two brief workshops in California taught him the basics of selling, designing and installing solar panels, and how to set up a solar training program for hard-to-employ individuals, like those who had not finished high school.
His new company, WDC Solar, employs trained urban youths and already has orders to install systems on three commercial buildings.
Mr. Davis credited a strong work ethic with helping him in his latest venture. “I’ve had a job since I was 6 years old, working in a tobacco field down in Georgia,” he said. “I have to be doing and busy.”
----------------------
Green Encore Solar Suitcases for Haiti Relief
The earthquake in Haiti came right in the middle of the weeklong Green Encore Solar training at Ohlone College. The devastation was particularly tough on Dave Burch, vice president of Improved Solutions for Urban Systems in Dayton, Ohio (led by Purpose Prize winner Ann Higdon), who works closely with a network of youth-training centers in Haiti, but all of the participants wanted to find a way to do something.
One of the instructors, Hal Aronson, is the co-founder (with his wife, Laura, a former ob/gyn doctor) of WeCareSolar, which provides "solar suitcases" to wards and clinics in Africa and elsewhere, where doctors had often been operating in the dark because of the lack of electricity. The suitcases are complete solar systems in a box -- just pop it open, point the panels at the sun, and plug stuff in (and charge up a battery for use at night).
Word is spreading (Laura was one of the three winners of New York Times' columnist Nick Kristof's "Half the Sky" contest) and Laura was getting inquiries from doctors who were mobilizing to go to Haiti.
So on the day after the class ended, Matthew Marks Evans, executive director of E3 Labs in Detroit; Mark Davis, CEO of WDC Solar; Vander Covington. master electrician of WDC Solar; Jabali Nash of ARCH Developing Corp.;, and Mitchell Smith of Solar Richmond; and a few others (including me) went to Hal and Laura's house in Berkeley and helped assemble the suitcases, under the tutelage of Hal and co-instructor Mike Strykowski.
Laura posted a note about the effort on the WeCareSolar blog. She wrote, "We've been in touch with members of Partners in Health, Angels in Haiti, and other physicians actively responding to the tragedy in Haiti. We anticipate that our first suitcases will be deployed within the next few days, and more will be coming...as soon as we can obtain enough donations to buy more equipment."
Tax-deductible donations can be made by check to "Venture Strategies for Health and Development," c/o Laura Stachel, 3009 Hillegass Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94705, or via PayPal at the WeCareSolar website.
---------------------
Hear about Solar Suitcases
--------------------------------
Solar Suitcases Explained
Here's a short video explaining the Solar Suitcases that are on their way to Haiti and already in use in Africa. It accompanied a piece in the Daily Cal, the student publication at UC Berkeley.
----------------
Helping Urban Youths Help Haiti
Mark Davis, CEO of WDC Solar, is featured in this MyFox DC report on how Washington DC youths are building "solar suitcases" to provide light and electricity for earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. Davis, a graduate of the "green encore" solar training at Ohlone College (funded by Civic Ventures' Community College Encore Career program), works with ARCH Development, a nonprofit jobs training center.