A $3.72-million federal stimulus grant awarded to the Providence Plan, a local nonprofit organization focused on social and economic advancement, will help pay for green jobs training for about 1,600 Rhode Islanders.
The "Energy Training Partnership" was developed by Providence Plan, local building trade unions, private construction companies and state and city government. It is focused on improving entry-level work-force skills in the state's poorest urban communities.
The plan targets energy-efficient construction and retrofits and renewable electric power, two industries expected to get a boost in the coming years.
According to the grant application approved by the federal Department of Labor and Training, about $1.4 million of the grant will go to the Providence Plan to finance Building Futures, its program to help low-income urban residents gain the skills needed to enter the building and construction trades. That includes about $103,000 to convert a warehouse space in Olneyville into a training facility for Building Futures.
Another $1.8 million will go to at least six trade unions in the state. The remaining money will go to the state Association of General Contractors, $128,000, and another $261,124 will be set aside for other unions that want to develop green jobs training and job-placement programs in the future.
State leaders, including Governor Carcieri, U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin, were on hand Monday at the headquarters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Cranston to announce the start of the green-jobs training programs next month.
The following unions have agreed to provide these targets over the life of the two-year federal allocation:
- Ironworkers Union: accept 18 Building Futures graduates into union apprenticeships; offer green training to 100 apprentices and 100 journeymen.
- Laborers International Union of North America: accept 20 Building Futures graduates into union apprenticeships; offer green training to 60 apprentices and 250 journeymen.
- International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers: accept 15 Building Futures graduates into union apprenticeships; offer green training to 180 apprentices and 200 journeymen.
- United Brotherhood of Carpenters: accept 14 Building Futures graduates into union apprenticeships; offer green training to 150 apprentices and 100 journeymen.
- United Association of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters: accept 10 Building Futures graduates into union apprenticeships; offer green training to 100 apprentices and 90 journeymen.
- International Union of Painters and Allied Trades: accept 8 Building Futures graduates into union apprenticeships; offer green training to 50 apprentices and 100 journeymen.