The Partnership for Onondaga Creek knows that Syracuse needs green jobs. This understanding springs from our 10-year fight against the Midland sewage plant. Our advocacy for environmental justice taught us that a community “speaks up” if it feels empowered; poverty saps a community's vitality. Even when jobs come into the community, if it can't take advantage of them, nothing changes. For example, of the 437 high-paying, union construction jobs related to the building of the Midland sewage plant, only 32 of them went to residents in surrounding zip codes (see graph). Knowing that living wage jobs are the backbone of any community, the POC has brought people together to take advantage of the moment -- stimulus money and the global warming crisis. We are discussing how to create “Pathways out of Poverty” by greening our city.
Besides working on teams to build green job training and green job opportunities to the urban unemployed, we are working to build capacity for Syracuse's small contractors so they too can benefit from green jobs, such as lead abatement, weatherization, and de-construction.
To further city-wide collaboration, the POC has created an on-line Green Jobs for Syracuse Directory. If you are an organization that can connect city residents to green job training/green jobs or that offers job training or a related service or are an employer willing to provide On-the-Job Training or a green job, please fill out the on-line directory form.
Click here to go to the directory