By Kathy Amoroso
February 11, 2008

“Welcome to the nation’s capital, Washington, DC — one of the greenest cities in the country,” Washington (DC) Mayor Adrian Fenty said in his opening remarks at the Mayors’ Jobs, Education and the Workforce Standing Committee meeting on January 23. Chaired by St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, the Jobs Committee members examined the use of “green collar” jobs as an economic development tool and pathway out of poverty for city residents in their session at the 76th Annual Winter Meeting.

“We have more park space per person that any other major U.S. city and more of our residents get to work by foot, bike, bus or train than almost anywhere else. Now we are starting to think strategically about how we can leverage these green assets to create jobs and build a more sustainable city,” Fenty said.

Fenty described his Green Collar Jobs Advisory Council for the mayors in attendance that include members of his administration, non-profit and advocacy organizations, contractors and developers. The Council has devised a strategy for linking the District’s green building policies to job creation.

Late last year, the District enacted the most ambitious green building legislation in the country. Beginning in 2008, all new buildings larger than 50,000 square feet — public or private — must conform to green standards. The Advisory Council will determine how the District can prepare its workforce to participate in the green building boom — from high school apprenticeship programs to graduate degrees.

“We know these jobs are coming down the pipeline, so it is critical that the government and the private sector work together to give our residents a real edge in the marketplace,” Fenty said.

“We would have had a clean, green economy decades ago, IF power plants and waste infrastructure were placed near wealthier — usually whiter communities all along. Instead, poor communities of all colors are more toxic, not less. In certain zip codes, unemployment rates are rising faster than sea levels,” said Dr. Majora Carter, Executive Director of Sustainable South Bronx, in her remarks to the committee.

“America is five percent of the world’s population, but accounts for 25 percent of the world’s incarcerated. Prison and garbage are two of our biggest growth industries. If poverty and pollution feed our jails and promote strife in our communities, why don’t we do something about it?”

“Might there be a connection between improving cities through environmental remediation and poverty? Sustainable South Bronx has proven this is the case,” Carter told the mayors.

Carter outlined details of the Sustainable South Bronx environmental restoration job training program that gives students skills in green collar fields ranging from managing the urban forest for energy conservation and crime prevention through environmental design; to safely cleaning up contaminated land; to greenroof installation.

“I have watched single moms on welfare, who have never had a job, come alive to the world around them because we have given them the power to make change in their own lives and make their world a better place in the process,” she said.