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| | 1. | | Welcome/Introduction
Minutes note: Chair: Rafael Smith
Notetaker: Pam Fendt
2/12/2021 virtual meeting minutes including comments from the chat
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| | 2. | | Milwaukee Green Jobs TA project presentation
Minutes note: Rafael opened the meeting and called on Erick Shambarger to introduce our guest speaker. Erick Shambarger explained that Milwaukee has been part of the US Dept. of Energy Workforce Accelerator program for many years, and through the Better Buildings Challenge program Milwaukee is receiving some free technical assistance paid for by DOE. Based on goals that were set last summer by advisory group, the focus is on mapping the current training for renewable energy/green jobs. If you were an unemployed Milwaukeean, where would you go to access these job opportunities? The purpose is to clarify the pathway and identify gaps that keep people from getting into green jobs. Another idea that was developed was the manufacture of pre-fab housing as a means to create energy efficient affordable housing for in-fill lots in the city. The plan would be to develop manufacturing of this type of housing in a facility located in the city, perhaps 30th Street Corridor. Ken Blaeske noted in the chat that when Westlawn did modular housing as part of their recent work, there were very few jobs for Milwaukee residents (the components were built elsewhere and trucked in) and no union workers were hired to help assemble them. Previous discussions of this idea have suggested such a project could follow the successful model used by Benson Industries/Duwe Metals in employing city residents on the Northwestern Mutual tower assembling glass panels. [Northwestern Mutual Tower Construction Employs the Unemployed - Milwaukee Courier Weekly Newspaper (milwaukeecourieronline.com)]
Erick then introduced Kevin Grosskopf from the University of Nebraska, DOE TA provider to the City of Milwaukee. Kevin has been working on evaluating projects for DOE since 2009 during the Obama stimulus plan that sought to create good green jobs. Kevin presented a powerpoint presentation (in CCTFCCEE file) that provided a summary of past DOE supported projects that could be of interest to Milwaukee and relevant models for work we want to do. Kevin described the projects and how they reflect Milwaukee goals.
Kevin mentioned that since modular construction takes place in a controlled site, it is a good choice for our climate.
TRAMCON project had 56% minority participants. They were taught the NCCER [National Center for Construction Education & Research] construction curriculum. Plumbing, carpentry, HVAC, weatherization technician, solar installer – these skills were taught.
Trained in OSHA 10/30 (Kevin noted that some participants got employment an dleft program as soon as they had the OSHA 30 credential). This is part of the success of a program that provides portable credentials.
Trade Adjustment Assistance grants for people who lost their jobs due to plant closing
The program had success in serving ex-offenders.
IMPACT featured contextualized basic skills with occupational skills training, programs that blend training this way have greater success. The co-hort was 38% underrepresented individuals. It also provided industry-recognized credentials to participants.
SYNERGY program focused on green jobs, energy efficiency and renewable energy. 80 hour Adult Basic Education boot camp, paired with Building Analyst & BA II credential from BPI. Because offered in rural area also provided Small Wind and Farm Analyst credential.
The final program Kevin discussed was called INTERFACE, which is an IT program sponsored by a network of community colleges in WI. When talking about the Stakeholders for the project: Training Providers, Employers, Workforce Systems, NGOs at the end of the process it was the Employers that were missing. There was nowhere near the jobs waiting on the back end as were predicted at the outset. Kevin noted that Employer commitments are a needed component. He also discussed incentives to maximize stakeholder involvement. In terms of managing the program, he discussed the difference between Intrusive Coaching and Career Counseling. In the latter example, that is a more passive approach where someone outlines your options. This program used Recruitment and Completion Coaches, where there was a staff person designed to track participants all the way through, and help keep them progressing through the program. In terms of PR and outreach, he noted that word of mouth was more effective than social media.
For all programs serving disadvantaged or underrepresented job seekers, he noted the possible needs for financial assistance, transitional housing, understanding of and flexibility towards probation requirements (i.e. might need to allow an excused absence from a training day to see PO).
He said the best programs offered a phased approach. He noted that it is best to utilize existing providers, leverage resources that exist in the community, DON’T reinvent the wheel. Kevin can assist us to take our ideas into a detailed project plan. He noted that each of the programs he discussed today had a 3rd party evaluation. All these reports on program details and outcomes will be shared with the Task Force.
Jacqueline Davidson from MWERC noted that they have a 12 week assembly training program and that they did not have any trouble placing graduates. She did say math skills were a problem and they had provided some remedial training.
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| | 3. | | Review of Work Group Template | | | |
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| | 4. | | Green Jobs Mapping Project
Minutes note: Aneysha Bhat, intern working for City ECO office, described the initial work she has done to create comprehensive maps of career pathways for green jobs, one of our agreed-upon goals.
She presented a powerpoint (in CCTFCCEE file).
Aneysha noted that according to research by ACEEE (The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy) Milwaukee is missing some of the components necessary for a clean energy future.
Aneysha will follow up with Work Group members who have information on careers that fit under the “green jobs” umbrella, including Jacqueline, Nathan, Pam, Jacob, Richard, David and Ted W.
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| | 5. | | Equity Metric/Inventory Discussion
Minutes note: Dr. Robert Kraig from Citizen Action of Wisconsin gave a presentation to set the stage for our discussion. He demonstrated how Great Britain had set a goal of reducing child poverty and then made sure to measure the effects of the programs and policies they invested in, and then had the discipline to drop a program if it was not working and give more support to programs that were proven to have positive outcomes. He described the process as backcasting, reverse engineering to a goal. Julie Kerksick made point that the UK model was based on federal planning and spending, very centralized. Erick Shambarger noted city and county are restrained in what they can do alone to control the inputs in addressing economic equity within a climate change response. Dr. Kraig noted that state and larger federal investments are more probable now under President Biden.
Dr. Kraig then presented information from a report by UWM Center for Economic Development that has some indicators that we might consider. He noted that Milwaukee is 50 out of 50 for African American wellness. Deneine Powell commented in the chat that the UWMCED wellness report was done in partnership with the African American Leadership Alliance of Milwaukee.
Rafael Smith noted that these statistics could create a benchmark of what we could track to for looking at economic equity. He noted that for GHG reduction we know the reductions we need, what we need to do. What # of new jobs do we need to create by 2030 to achieve employment rate for prime working age males/ disconnected youth/ ex-incarcerated. Robert Kraig asked do all the small/medium projects lead to improvement in measures were looking for? Rafael Smith said again, thinking what is our 2030 indicator? Based on these baselines and benchmarks, what do people think we should use to create our equity metric.
Julie Kerksick said in her view, employment rates for marginalized communities would be important metric. A means to demonstrate pathway to opportunity that we believe will reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions had an effect on create employment for our target population.
Household Income or Individual Income-- Raising household incomes was discussed as a metric with support among work group members. Median African American Household Income is a baseline in the UWMCED report.
Percentage of workers of color in green jobs
Pam Fendt gave an example of positive changes in registered apprenticeship programs based on attention to this issue. Since 2010, there have been notable increases in minority participation in some apprenticeship programs.
• The number of minority apprentices in union-affiliated Construction Trades almost doubled from 276 in 2010 to 535 in 2019.
• Seven trades achieved minority representation in their apprenticeship programs that matches or exceeds the diversity of the metro area population working age population (minorities represent 24% of the metropolitan workforce), up from three programs in 2010. Metro area is the 4 county area.
• Minority participation increased in 9 of the 16 union-affiliated construction trades in the Greater Milwaukee area.
Maithilee Kanthi noted in chat: That’s a helpful example of showing how we can see the numbers change and how we can compare them (re: city’s diversity percentage w/ apprenticeship participants)
Larry Hoffman raised the issue of contract to minority business enterprises.
Kate Pawasarat said that the City is currently undertaking a Disparity Study that will help address that issue. She also shared the framework tool that the City is using for their Diversity and Inclusion efforts
GARE Racial Equity Toolkit: https://www.racialequityalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/GARE-Racial_Equity_Toolkit.pdf
Committee members discussed a business development indicator. Larry Hoffman suggested reviewing 4 documents that demonstrated problems with the City’s Residents Preference Program. George Martin stated we have an opportunity with City and County involvement to focus on what we can do in a forward looking way.
Pam Fendt noted if we are looking to increase black household income as one of our equity metrics, then concentrating our efforts on employment -- getting the largest number of people who need jobs into good green jobs as possible. Decreasing unemployment will move the needle on the income metric more effectively than concentrating on contracting.
Fred Royal made the point that business development is about wealth creation, and that it is also very important to focus on this as an indicator on its own and also as a means to create employment, because black businesses tend to hire black workers.
Pam Fendt agreed minority business development should be a metric, but she questions whether it will have as big an effect on household income as a local hiring policy.
Fred Royal gave State DOT Disadvantaged Business Enterprise standard as an example. Pam noted their standard is lower than the city’s (10% DBE to 25% SBE). Larry reiterated his point to review critiques of City programming.
Pam said in in terms of GREEN JOBS for instance, we don’t know what the levers are to put hiring or contracting standards are on the work. The city won’t necessarily be in charge. Most residential work is completed through Focus on Energy program, are there standards? Posted the link to the list of approved contractors in chat https://www.focusonenergy.com/trade-ally/find
Kevin Kane commented in the chat. As a contractor on that list Pam shared, I agree, and happy to help share experiences of doing so and whose on it in the weatherization game.
Rafael Smith indicated we are out of time for the meeting and said Continue discussion of Equity Metric(s) will be continued at our next meeting.
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| | 6. | | Agenda Items for Next Meeting | | | |
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| | 7. | | Close & Schedule Next Meeting | | | |
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