One of the things that we've been able to see is the reduction in our cost in the area of $15,000 a month through reduced landfilling, making sure that all of our containers that are going out to be recycled are full, are going to landfiller-full. Because we're getting corrugated out of the waste stream, it means less compactor maintenance, and we're also seeing revenue from the sale of the materials. We've been fortune enough that we have received, as you see from this particular slide, awards from both the Maryland Recyclers Coalition and the National Recycling Coalition. We currently have a grant from EPA Region III to expand the program, and I should mention that the grant that we have from EPA also includes regional cooperation within the Mid-Atlantic area, and we have been 88 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 working for some time now with Philadelphia Airport with their recycling program. I've had numerous conversations with David Biddle and others. We've been to a couple of their meetings. David's had a chance to come down and tour our facility. So one of the things that's happening is, there's a lot of cooperation that's going on between Baltimore and Philadelphia in this area. Media-wise, we've had a number of articles on the program in some of the local media. Edwin and I had about our ten seconds' worth of fame. We were on CNN right after Christmas a year or so ago. And when I say we had our ten seconds, I think that's about what we ended up. But we've also gotten some local media coverage, as you can see here. A number of programs. We're getting calls -- Edwin was mentioning 89 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 to me this morning that we're getting more and more calls from airports. This list may, in fact, not be complete, but it just gives you some idea of some of the airports that we've had questions from. We've also looked at the area of buying recycled products to make sure that we're creating marks for the materials. This includes office paper, tissue, and towel products, the collection containers that you're see in a few moments, and then another product called TreadSpread, which I'll mention very briefly. This is a program -- Maryland Environmental Service up until, I believe it was, December ran a program where we actually made products out of recycled tires. We have since sold that plant, and I understand the new operator is going to be doing that very shortly again. But you can see some of the things that we were able 90 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 to do with it. This is a playground that is near the area, where people have a chance to go to the playground or to -- it's more of an area where people go watch the airplanes take off and land. This is at Martin State Airport, and they are extremely happy with this particular product, a rubber mulch product that they use around mulch around trees. And in the next slide, you'll see that it's around trees and shrubbery in the area. This is the recycling container that we have throughout the terminal. A couple of things that I'll mention that I think are critical about this. Number one -- and it's probably not visible from the slide, but on the left-hand side, there is a trash slot, and I think one of the things that you need to make sure of 91 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 anytime you're doing a recycling program is that the recycling and the trash containers are in close proximity, because otherwise, you're going to have a cross-contamination problem. The second thing -- and, again, it's probably not visible here, but there is also a Spanish translation of this, and that's another area that I think they did a real nice job on. This particular slide just has some information on how to find more information on the program. And the last slide is simply information on how to get hold of Edwin and I either by phone or by e-mail if people have particular questions.
But again, I think, to summarize what we have done, I think the three things that really make this program important are the fact that 92 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 we've had the partnerships with all of the different groups at the airport, that we've had the consistent and ongoing training, and number three, that Maryland Aviation Administration has control over both the solid waste and recycling, and it's not something we need to go to each individual tenant and each individual airline in order to do that. Once again, our thanks for inviting us this morning. I know the folks from the airport are aware of this, but I'll restate it, that Edwin and I are certainly available for whatever we can do to share what we've done at BWI, and I'm sure, as time goes on, that as programs develop at other airports that we're going to learn some things from them that will help us with what we're doing at BWI. I think the thing you have to recognize again is that this is not a 93 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 Baltimore and a Philadelphia issue; this is something that is consistent throughout the airline industry. And one of the things that I'll close with is, is that I often remind people that an airport is like a small city. In fact, BWI itself is actually its own zip code. And one of the things you have to realize is that, much like any small city, you have very distinct waste streams. You have a residential stream, which is basically what the passengers are bringing in or getting at the airport that they need to deal with. You have a commercial stream from the food vendors and the retail establishments. And then you have the material that's actually coming off the airplane. So it's a management issue that you need to look at as to how do you manage all three of those different streams. 94 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 So, once again, our thanks for inviting us up here, and we're more than happy to not only answer questions today but provide whatever assistance we can with the program.
Great. Thank you very much for your testimony, and it's very concise and informative. And the Chair recognizes Councilmember Jones.
Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Particularly revolving around the recycling of tires, I saw that you use some of the -- you had a tire plant --
What were some of the by-products other than the recreational playground usage?
We did some 95 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 programs with sports fields, where we were able to use that material to protect the turf so that when it rained and somebody came across the field in cleats and things like that, the turf didn't get broken up. Tires are actually doing a whole group of projects beyond even what we did in that particular facility. The TreadSpread that you saw there was probably the biggest product. The second one was the things that we use for the various turf fields. Some of those were artificial turf fields, some of those were natural turf fields. Some of the tires that are being managed across the country are going into, you know, burning plants, you know, they're being used as a fuel source. And there's a lot of engineering things that are going on with tires. So I guess what I'm trying to 96 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 say is, it's beyond even what we are doing at our plant. Ours was predominantly the TreadSpread, which was basically a mulch-type and the stuff that we were doing for the sports fields.
A couple of questions then. Have you heard of the reuse of those ground tires being used as a patch for streets?
There are a lot of programs that are being looked at as far as tires are concerned and a variety of other kind of kinds of products. And, you know, there certainly are places where they're being used as, you know, as patchwork, there are places that they're being used on roads. To be honest with you, Councilman, I haven't really tracked it recently to know what the current state of the technology is. But, yes, 97 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 there's a lot of different uses that are being made from the tires.
The point being that it's a derivative of oil. Oil has gone up exponentially. One of the increased costs to the City of Philadelphia is street repair, which also uses that derivative of oil, and I was wondering if, in fact, they made the connection of tire recycling to patchwork yet.
I don't know that they've made that connection in the current dramatic increases that we've seen in the cost of fuel. But, I mean, certainly, there are a lot of people around the country that are looking at what are the options in terms of using tires and how they might be used.
And, finally, last question. You talked about grease and recycling of that?
How did you 98 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 dispose of it or what did you use that grease for?
The grease, again as I understand it, I mean, the grease is basically coming from -- like most airports, BWI has a large number of food vendors that exist within the airport. My understanding at this point is, is that material is going as a fuel, but that certainly is better than it going into the waste stream.
Yeah, that's my point. I just saw recently -- it might have been this Sunday, they were talking about recycling fries grease from fryers to make fuel. So I wanted to know if you were using it.
Thank you very much. Any other questions for this 99 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 witness? (No further questions.)
Thank you for coming up and for the information. We appreciate.
Thank you. Christine Knapp, PennFuture. (Witness comes forward.)
My name is Christine Knapp. I am the Eastern Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture. PennFuture is a statewide environmental advocacy organization with offices in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, West Chester, and here in Philadelphia. I'm also on the Mayor's Recycling Advisory Committee and a partner in the Green Airport Partnership. I'm also the coordinator 100 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 for the local Next Great City Initiative, which did make recommendations around improving recycling in the City of Philadelphia. I want to thank City Council, and Councilman Kenney in particular, for setting up this hearing to explore recycling at the airport. The airport does set a tone for the City. Obviously, it's the gateway to our city for many travelers. While the City is currently the second-worst city in the country in terms of our recycling rate, and as the second worst city, we are used to not having recycling at most of our large cities, but for most travelers who are coming from other cities and from other countries where their recycling programs are everywhere, it really is quite astounding to travelers when they come off an airplane and they have paper or plastic bottle and are not able to 101 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 immediately find a recycling bin that's. And that's one of the first things that people are experiencing when they come to visit our city is the inability to recycle, which sets the tone for them for the rest of their trip. They also have to take a train and see all the trash on the railroads on their way into Center City, but that's another topic for another day. I do want to address some of the comments that Councilman Jones was making in terms of the money situation in these initiatives. One of the reasons why the Next Great City Initiative recommended recycling is because it is actually a cost-effective practice as well. The shifts in the international markets in recycling have changed. India and China are now expanding rapidly and need natural resources. They are 102 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 paying top dollar for recyclables. And that has changed the recycling markets; thus, it's now cheaper to recycle. Someone mentioned earlier that Blue Mountain pays about $32 a ton for recycling while we're also avoiding landfill costs. So recycling is an area within the terms of environmental initiatives where money is being saved. The City itself saves around $2 million a year through recycling, and that the City Controller also said that if we increase our recycling rate dramatically, the City itself can save upwards of $17 million a year in recycling. But that's not the only reason to do something like a recycling program. The cost of not doing something is really what I want to emphasize. We obviously have global warming looming, you know, as a threat for us. We also, as you have 103 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 mentioned, have economic problems and energy crisis. The cost of not doing something is what needs to be considered more. I mean, what does it cost upfront to do something, 'cause the long-term benefits of recycling, of wind energy purchase, of a lot of the other initiatives at the airport and others are taking on we really can't quantify. And I just want to caution against the idea of doing studies to find out what the cost is going to be upfront versus not doing something because we have information from other cities, we obviously just saw best practice from another city. We know -- we have information, we have data. And I just -- I think that the time -- we have the information, we know what the economics are. The time to take action is now, because, again, the cost of not doing anything is going to be far greater than doing anything. 104 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res.
080089 In working with the Green Airport Partnership, I've noticed that it seems that the largest stumbling block in getting an effective recycling program going at the airport seems to be cooperating in terms of the logistics of the various vendors, the terminals themselves. It seems to be a complicated system, but it's not something that -- we can overcome it basically. The Green Airport Partnership working group has been looking at it, David Biddle has been leading that effort to take a look at how the existing program functions, how it can be improved, how it can be streamlined. The cooperation needs to be found among all of the groups. And having Council's leadership and having leadership from within the airport's department itself really will help make sure that the cooperation happens and that all of the groups work together. 105 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 I know that there's a lot of other people waiting to testify on another bill, so I'm going to keep it short and take any questions that you might have.
Thank you for that testimony. And I don't want you to misconstrue my interest in measuring, managing, and quantifying with not being supportive or the cost of -- the opportunity cost of not doing something for our environment. There was a interesting commercial that was on, and it was a young person talking to a grizzled CEO about recycling efforts for the economy. And at one point, he was listening but not listening to the recycling efforts and what the company was doing based on this young fire-brand executive. And then all of 106 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 a sudden, what she did was she, put up a paper and said how much the company was saving and that got his attention.
And he was, like, in love with the idea of recycling. And I believe we're getting to that equilibrium point. As fuels cost more, as energy cost more, we're beginning to see this as not something for the environment but something to protect and preserve the bottom line for companies and organizations like the airport. So if we don't start measuring, we can't manage the difference between what some of the presentations are is that the bottom line of what the recycling efforts at BWI was, was $15,000 a month -- measured, stated, and a part of the financials of the airports. So that's my only comment. 107 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089
No, I absolutely agree that that's another piece and another argument to be made for recycling and a lot of other things. And, you know, just to give you the context, PennFuture's tagline is: Every environmental victory grows the economy. So we do absolutely get that point.
But there are some things that you can't quantify, and that was my point.
We want as much data as we can to support our arguments, but there are some things that you have to do and just see the results down the line. You'll see benefits you didn't even expect in a lot of cases. 108 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089
Thank you very much for your testimony. Is there anyone else to testify on this resolution, about recycling at the airport?
Just a short question. Thank you, Mr. Chair. It has to do with, of course, the startup cost of putting in a recycling program and whatnot. What, in your opinion -- how long does it take before we start seeing a benefit, seeing a cost savings to justify a recycling program to begin with?
I really wouldn't be able to put a timeline on it. I'm not a waste consultant. There are people in the audience who may be able 109 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089 to answer that question, but it has been mentioned that there is a scale of economy, that the more you do, you know, the more recycling that you have going, the more money you save. So, again, I urge not small steps but big actions, a big rollout of the campaign, because the more you get in terms of material, the more you will save. And that cooperation is important for that reason, because you're only getting a small amount of tonnage from one vendor and another small amount from another vendor, and they're all doing their own contacts with their own waste haulers. They're not going to realize the kind of economic savings that if they all cooperated together and had a large amount of tonnage, you know, a more effective system of collection and disposal, that would obviously result in greater economy. 110 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080089
But I wouldn't be able to give you a timeline. I think some other people could --
Thank you very much. Anyone else to testify on the recycling airport resolution. (No response.)
Thank you very much. * * * 111 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266
The next resolution is Resolution 080266, calling on the Committee on the Environment and the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development to hold joint hearings on adopting a Green Job Corps to help Philadelphia create a qualified, trained workforce to support local green businesses and contractors. Is there a representative from the Administration here to testify? (Witnesses come forward.)
Yes. My name is Duane Bumb, the Deputy Director of Commerce, and I'm appearing here today 112 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 to provide testimony in support of Resolution 080266, calling on the committee to hold joint hearings on adopting a Green Job Corps program. By the way, I've got copies of my testimony if you don't have it up there.
Integrating the Green Job Corps program into the City's sustainable development strategy will place Philadelphia among a handful of other cities in the nation leading the change against climate charge -- or leading the charge against climate change and addressing our global energy shortage. In the summer of 2007, the City of Oakland voted to fund its Green Job Corps program with a $250,000 seed grant. Cities that have followed suit include Chicago, Washington, D.C. and New York. The program offered by each of these 113 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 cities carry a twofold agenda: Number one, to prepare a competent workforce to participate in the green economy; and, number two, to offer pathways out of poverty to at-risk and low-income individuals. The green-collar jobs are defined in the 2008 Sustainable Business Network Report, "Building A Green Economy," as blue-collar jobs within organizations whose products, services, and business practices promote environmental health. There are a substantial number of skilled professionals who currently work in Philadelphia and fulfill the existing demand for green services and technologies. These are the professionals who build green buildings such as the Comcast Tower, install solar panels such as seven-acre solar array at the Navy Yard, and construct green roofs, as demonstrated by the Water Department's 114 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 issuance of permits for over four acres of green roofs in the City, and the existing roofs at the School District's School of the Future and on the City's Forensic Science Center. There is a clear recognition within the City that the green market sector will continue to grow. For example, in recognition of the market potential for solar energy and to ensure that the City's workforce is prepared to respond, the City applied for, and was recently named, one of the 12 solar American cities by the Department of Energy. With that $200,000 award matched by $50,000 in City dollars, $45,000 in private dollars, and over $175,000 of in-kind contributions from key stakeholders, the City will assemble a task force to ensure that the City's workforce is ready to meet the growing demand for solar energy. A hallmark of Mayor Nutter's 115 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 plan for making Philadelphia America's greenest city is to invent in local energy-efficient industries. The Green Job Corps program offers not only a vehicle for developing the workforce needed to meet the employment demand of these industries but also addresses concerns of many of our neighborhoods that continue to struggle economically. Thank you for your consideration of this important resolution. I ask that you -- or I'd be happy to answer questions but you'll be hearing testimony from others from the Sustainable Business Network as well. (Councilwoman Reynolds Brown assumes Committee Chair position.)
Let me thank the Administration for the 116 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 testimony, and I had a question around what's happening currently within the Administration. The follow-up I have is, has the Department of Commerce I.D.ed personnel who are, for lack of a better way of saying this, LEED certified, who know and understand all of what that means? because in each of presentations, we saw just saw, employee training is a factor.
But it's important to have professionals in these departments who know what they are doing and looking for. Has Commerce moved in that direction at all? has there been any conversation or discussion?
I think we are moving in that direction. We are having discussions with the workforce-development organizations. You'll hear testimony today from the 117 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation. We're also talking with the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board about how do we better link workforce and our -- and those sort of growing industry sectors within our economy. Again, we would say that the green industry sector is one of those targeted sectors that we should be better aligning with workforce needs, so it is, in fact, very appropriate for us to be having that discussion. Again, there are a lot of examples of the connections on the professional level where we've got people -- architects and engineers, who, in fact --
-- are now designing to this LEED standard. But what we're really focusing on here -- and I think it's an 118 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 appropriate and necessary step -- is to bring in those people within the workforce who have entry-level skill sets who can actually now benefit from those growing sectors.
So does the Department of Commerce have any specific goals that it's trying to achieve with the workforce development through the workforce development meetings?
We're -- we have specific goals associated with population and job growth in the City. We are still breaking out within the job-growth sector --
-- the targeted industries. Again, this one is an appropriate one to be included in that strategy.
Has the business community, through the Chamber, been invited to be a part of 119 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 those sit-down discussions? 'Cause my thinking is, business leaders, the labor community, organized labor, along with government -- and there's a role for public school education and the public school district as well -- collectively need to be a part of those discussions at the door, not as we roll out a program that has not clearly or carefully factored in all of those stakeholders.
Right. Our interaction with the Chamber of Commerce, for example, is generally as we sort of all sit on the board of the Philadelphia workforce investment Board.
And the discussions have led to what? Is it too soon to say what those discussions will lead to?
Yeah, it's -- again, we are wanting to finalize those -- first of all, to improve our system -- and we've talked in our budget hearing a few weeks ago about how we are realigning our Office of Business Services to make sure we are better connecting with workforce development; and within that office, also focusing on those targeted industries where real growth in jobs can occur. We are having that discussion with the Workforce Investment Board and its board members to improve those linkages as well. So it's a work in progress, I guess, is what I'm saying.
So 121 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 green-collar jobs is on the docket.
Yes, it is. And, in fact, it's critically important in that so many of the jobs that are these green-collar jobs that we talk about really are -- many of them would be manufacturing jobs. It's a sector we've seen tremendous erosion in jobs over the last --
Yes. And even in the last seven years, we've seen a 36 percent drop within the City.
And so, you're right, it's tremendous erosion. And so it's focusing on those sectors within 122 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 manufacturing that actually have a real opportunity for growth is a great way for us to stabilize that sector.
Yes. How are you, Mr. Bumb? It's so good to see you once again.
You are the flag bearer, when it comes to the department, on all things Council. A couple of things, and I'd like to follow up on Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds-Brown's questions. I don't know if you've been following our hearings, but we've been pretty consistent with the developers and with vendors and with people interested in doing things within the 123 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 City of Philadelphia on this green-job industry. When it comes to Fox Chase and their ability to expand their facility, one of the questions that was asked of them was, What is your green plan? and whether or not their facilities were taking that into account. And then the question also was, Well, where can we find resources? And I think the time has come for the City of Philadelphia to kind of be the central depository of information on all things green and someone particularly in the area of economic development helping them to realize, one, that it doesn't have to cost more, because the first thing that they say is, By doing things green, it's going to cost me more. And whether, in fact, that is true, over the long haul, it should be designed to reduce expenses over a period of time. And someone on behalf 124 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 of the Administration needs to kind of champion that and lead that. When it came to golf courses, we asked those questions of -- Madam Chairwoman, when it came to the extension of leases for the municipal-owned golf courses, we even asked, Well what are the green jobs, and who's going to take landscaping to irrigation to alternate fuels to the kinds of things that are on the horizon? Even when it comes to permits, even when it comes to permits, people want to blacktop a lot, and then the question becomes about what happens to the excess rain-water runoff --
-- and experts in the field like American Cities that understand about different means and measures of capturing rain water when it comes to rain barrels or different uses of rain-water runoff. 125 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 So its time has come, its time has come in a way that we need kind of grasp what that industry is. In the last hearings, one of the questions I asked is, Do these conservation efforts work? We need to monitor them. Everything that claims to be green may not be green, and we need to have best practices and things like that. And I just think that the City of Philadelphia has to kind of step up its game if we're going to achieve some of the goals of this administration when it comes to greening, conservation, and these jobs that may be created as a result of this effort.
I agree. Again, I think there are sort of two general ways where we in economic development can play a larger role here. One is through efforts like the Green Job Crops, where by the very act of us 126 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 training individuals for an emerging industry, we are actually signaling to that industry that that's an important growth sector for us. And so when international companies like Gamasa (sp?) are looking for their headquarters and we want to keep them in Philadelphia, it's important to signal to them that this is a sector we pay attention to. So it's very good not just to sort of put people in the workforce who, in fact, have certain barriers to entry in the workforce but, in fact, it's just good policy for us to sort of let the world know that this is important to us. Sort of one another way I think that we do that in the economic development is in our coordinating role for development within the cities, and so it gets to your point, Councilman, when we sort of bring developers in and we talk about what 127 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 the appropriate zoning is and sort of how they're looking to sort of develop a particular site, that, in fact, we raise the question -- if their plan does not, that we raise the question of what efforts have they made toward sustainability and give them some technical advice on how they can improve their design in that sort of way.
We are looking at introducing legislation and trying to coerce my colleagues into being a part of it, some green-zoning legislation, where we take certain areas in the City of Philadelphia and designate them green zones. And all new developments subsequent to that period of time, when the legislation gets passed, would be responsible to meet some measure, some area of LEED certification and/or effort, it would be submitted in their plans before even 128 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 they were able to get permits and licenses and the like. So this is something that -- its time has come.
So we're trying to give you a heads-up so that you can continue your primary mission, which is to grow the economy of the City of Philadelphia, and hopefully, it will be a green economy.
The expectation would be, just as we have clear requirements for EOP's educational employment opportunity plan, we would also ultimately look to some type of green initiative plan as a part of the final approval of documents that flow past this table.
One final 129 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 question. You mentioned a task force currently in place, where the notion of green-collar jobs is being discussed. What was the name of it again?
You said with the Chamber and Commerce already at the table currently having discussion.
That's right. Let me pull that right out of my -- just to make sure...
Well, you mentioned a task force on your testimony, but there's no name for it.
Yeah, in fact, it -- it hasn't -- there are stakeholders that are sort of in that task force, but it hasn't been named, and it's only had a preliminary meeting to date, so we're still -- it's still being -- they've been brought together one time, but we're still framing the mission for 130 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 that organization.
If we could please invite up Panel No. 2, Sustainable Business Network of Philadelphia. Please accept my inability to pronunciate your name correctly: Leanne-Krueger Brancky. Strategy Arts, Scott Wheeler. And the principal for the Wissahickon Charter School, Julie Stapleton Carroll. While they come to the witness table, let me give a heads-up to the next panel, which will include: Sandra Dungee Glenn of the American Cities Foundation; Christine Knapp of PennFuture, Julie Wicks of White Dog Cafe; and Sonia De Van-Lake, representing Ernie Jones of the Philadelphia Workforce Development 131 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 Corporation. Good afternoon, everyone. Please proceed with your testimony and state your name for the record.
Good morning. My name is Leanne Krueger-Brancky, and I'm the Executive Director of the Sustainable Business Network of Philadelphia, a business organization that brings together local leaders who share a common passion to grow successful businesses that are socially and environmentally responsible. The Sustainable Business Network cultivates socially and environmentally responsible commerce in the Philadelphia region by providing our members with assessment, education, advocacy, and business development opportunities. We are here this morning to talk about green-collar jobs. Green-collar jobs are blue-collar jobs 132 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 in green businesses, manual-labor jobs in businesses whose products and services directly improve environmental quality. There are sectors of the 7 U.S. economy that can provide green- 8 collar jobs, including bicycle repair, 9 biodiesel production and gas station 10 jobs, green building, organic food 11 production, large-scale composting, 12 recycling, and public transit. 13 Green-collar jobs have huge 14 potential to plug holes in our local 15 economy. In 1969, there were over 16 650,000 manufacturing jobs in this 17 region; by 2005, only 250,000 18 manufacturing jobs remain, a loss of 19 over 400,000 in less than four 20 decades. Green-collar jobs can plug 21 some of the gaps left behind by 22 manufacturing because they require similar levels of vocational training and often pay a living wage. On February 21st, the 133 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 Sustainable Business Network convened a sold-out public event with Van Jones at the Urban Sustainability Forum. Van Jones is the founder and president of Green For All, based in Oakland, California. In 2007, Van helped the City of Oakland pass a Green Jobs Corps proposal, and their city council allocated funds to train residents in ecofriendly green-collar jobs. At the national level, Van worked successfully in 2007 with the U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pilosi and others that passed the Green Jobs Act of 2007. That path-breaking, historic legislation authorized $125 million in funding to train 35,000 people a year in green-collar jobs. Over 600 people joined us at the February event with Van Jones. Mayor Michael Nutter welcomed Van to Philadelphia and reaffirmed his 134 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 commitment to make Philadelphia the greenest city in the U.S. On March 20th, we brought Van Jones back to Philadelphia for an invitation-only green-economy strategy session at City Hall. Scott Wheeler will talk about the results of that meeting in his testimony. On the same day, the Sustainable Business Network released a report entitled "Building A Green Economy: Green-Collar Development Initiatives in the Delaware Valley." This report is intended to be a resource about the organization's currently training and hiring green-collar worker as well as new projects on the horizon. This report shows that we do not have to start from scratch. Good work is already happening in the region and can serve as the foundation for future efforts. In order to move this work forward, we need to be collaborative. 135 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 No one entity can accomplish this goal on its own. Business and local government, workforce development organizations and community colleges, labor, funders and investors are all important stakeholders in this work. Each of us holds an important piece of the puzzle, and only by working together can we create meaningful numbers of good jobs that will help the environment and lift people out of poverty at the same time. Thank you.
We'll hear from everyone and then we'll open up for questions and comments. Good afternoon. State your name for the record.
Good afternoon. Scott Wheeler from Strategy Arts. It's an honor to be here today discussing such an exciting opportunity, and it's been an absolute pleasure working to move this whole thing forward. 136 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 I'm the founder of Strategy Arts. It's a small consulting business based in West Chester, Pennsylvania. We lead businesses and nonprofits and diverse stakeholder groups through planning processes to solve complex problems. And one of the things that's important to how we approach things is that we use a collaborative process to engage people and also analysis to provide them the information that they need to make decisions. Our role in this initiative has been to plan and guide a process that helps stakeholders work together to build the initiative. In February, the meeting that Leanne was talking about, we worked together with the Sustainable Business Network to set two short-term end-of-2008 goals for the community to consider. The first is to place 100 youth from disadvantaged communities 137 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 in green-collar jobs by the end of this year; and the second is, at the same time, to have a visible part of the infrastructure that enables green-collar job to be in place so that we can continue that growth.
Speak more into the mic. Pull it closer to you, please, sir.
With these goals in hand, the Sustainable Business Network called a stakeholder meeting that was held here in City Hall on March 20th. The objectives of that meeting were to involve stakeholders in determining what needs to happen to build the Green Jobs Initiative, to inspire all of us with a clear vision of what success can look like, and to move to action through committees free to decide and pursue needed action. We invited a range of 138 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 stakeholders to the meeting. We included green business, community development groups, workforce development groups, labor, green builders, educators, and City government. At the meeting, we built on the inspired vision presented by Van Jones during his first visit to the City in February. Van continues to give us tremendous support in this and also returned to Philadelphia to kick off our strategy meeting on the 20th. His message to us was that the early-level involvement that he saw here in our city will give us the opportunity to move faster than anyone in the cities he's worked in so far.
At the meeting, the Sustainable Business Network also distributed a green-business report that they had done that documents the current efforts of businesses when 139 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 workforce development and other community groups that are already focused on sustainable business areas in Philadelphia. A vital part of that meeting was to involve the participants in the creation of ideas needed to achieve the goals. During the meeting, participants worked in groups to identify what was needed to support Philadelphia's green-job success and, more specifically, the short-term goals that we had identified. We focused on four complementary areas: job training, employer commitment, community policies, and funding. To ensure continued momentum, the participants at the meeting established four committees. The job of these committees is to move forward with the planning and actions required to build the green jobs initiative in Philadelphia, and we also agreed at 140 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 the meeting to keep the Sustainable Business Network in the coordinating role to assure continued focus on a common end-goal. So where are we now? It's not been very long since our meeting in March. All of the organizational committees have actually completed their actions. They've all met. This is absolutely extraordinary for this kind of a multi-stakeholder organization. And, in fact, we were just talking recently that there are now over 50 people involved in these committees to drive this forward, so this is a true grassroots effort across everything. Each of the committees has met. They've developed short-term three-month goals. They've also developed longer-term goals, and they are now actively pursuing the actions that they've set for themselves in 141 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 pursuit of those short-term goals. So you will be hearing from some of those committees as a part of the testimony that's coming up next.
Good afternoon. My name is Julie Stapleton-Carroll. I am from the Wissahickon Charter School. I wanted to first begin by thanking the committees for this opportunity to talk with you about supporting a Green Job Corps in Philadelphia. We serve 400 Philadelphia students in grades K to 8. Some quick statistics about us. We focus on the environment as a way to integrate our curriculum. Eighty-five percent of our students come from low-wealth families. Ninety-five percent of our 142 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 students are minority. Ninety-five percent of our parents reports that their children enjoy coming to school. Ninety percent of our parrots report that their children feel safe. Ninety percent of our children hate our school lunch, but we're working on that. (Laughter.)
We have a 100 percent top-notch faculty that you may be aware of. Ninety-five percent of our parents attend parent-teacher conferences. A hundred percent of our students recycle their school papers, bottles, and cans through a very rigorous recycling program at the school. And Wissahickon Charter School has proudly made adequate yearly progress four years in a row. So we take pride in the fact 143 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 that we can offer children in this city an outstanding education while also teaching them to be stewards of their environment and their community. Our students represent most neighborhoods in Philadelphia and come from communities that would gain huge benefits from a Green Job Corps in Philadelphia. In a minute, you'll hear from two of our students, and I'm sure that you'll agree with me that they would be great ambassadors to move this initiative forward. I'm going to skip a lot of my testimony at this point, but I want to talk a little bit about the way we teach at the Wissahickon, because I think it could bear a lot of the benefits that come out a job corps and training program for individuals joining the job corps. We utilize elements of the natural world to encourage students to 144 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 connect learning across disciplines and grade levels. Our faculty members draw upon the resources of nearby Fairmount Park, the Wissahickon Creek and its watershed to provide students with hands-on learning opportunities to choose, devise, and implement an environmental-service learning project. This approach gives students ownership of the project and provides opportunities for in-depth explorations of real-life problems. Our students also annually grow and maintain a community garden with residents of the Germantown block closest to our school. As responsible stewards of this community resource, Wissahickon Charter School students come to understand the importance and impact of all aspects of the urban natural environment in which they live. As a way of demonstrating the great benefits of a Green Job Corps 145 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 concept, I'd like to describe two initiatives that Wissahickon Charter School students are engaged in that not only better our environment but really offer students an authentic and meaningful opportunity to engage in and something that they can take beyond the school walls. At Wissahickon, we manufacture alternative fuel. Supported by an Environmental Protection Agency grant, middle school students begin planning the design, construction, and operation of a processer to convert used vegetable oil into alternative fuel that can be used to power buses. Wissahickon Charter will make the environmentally-friendly biodiesel fuel available to its various partner organizations. We've been talking with (indiscernible), we've been talking with some organic farms to bring CSAs out to delivery, et cetera. In addition to the processor's 146 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 design and operation, students will establish and implement a community- wide collection strategy to ensure a consistent supply of used vegetable oil for use in the production of biodiesel fool fuel, and will, in the process, educate community members about the utility and sustainability of this practice. Harnessing solar energy. In recent months, Wissahickon Charter School's 4th grade students who are studying energy have participated in a wide variety of projects to help the school prepare for the installation of solar panels. We now have two solar panels on our roof and are generating a portion of our energy through that. ) here built one as well; you could ask him about it -- demonstrating their power at our school's community-wide Earth Day 147 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 celebration, where students spoke with attendees about recent developments in solar technology, committed to educating families who care about issues of sustainability.
Students will also participate in the conceptualization and installation of our new onsite educational kiosk that will take that energy of the solar panels and allow us to integrate that into the curriculums through visuals and participation in how that impacts our grid. The school's successful use of environmental education curriculum is evidenced by its receipt of the 2007 Storm Water Best Management Practices Recognition Program Award, the 2008 Greater Philadelphia Stainability Award, which we're particularly pleased about, and the 2007 Triple Bottom Line Award, which is also something that we hold dear to us But regardless of what we can 148 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 do within our school walls, what happens outside of school walls is really what dictates our students' success, and I feel really passionately that Philadelphia is poised with a new administration and an invigorated Council to move forward at an incredible rate. Frequently, I'm asked where our students go after graduating from Wissahickon and 8th grade. While we're pleased that our students have selected schools of very high caliber and fit for themselves, we're left to wonder where the love of nature and purposeful service of our environment goes beyond the walls of Wissahickon Charter School A comprehensive, thoughtful, and visible program to support green jobs in Philadelphia would achieve a number of things in the minds of our students: Consistency between what 149 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 they're being taught in school and what we as citizens value. Recycling, not wasting. There's so much that can be done around that, and I know that everybody in this room is aware of that Taking care of ourselves and each other, making sure that our city is looking after us and that we're participating in that process A sense of commitment from our city, that we value the things that they have been taught to be important Self-reliance and respect for each other And our responsibility to take action to fix problems in our community. We teach our students that it's their responsibility, if they see something that needs fixing, to fix it, and this Green Jobs Corps could help implant that attitude across the City I very enthusiastically 150 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 support the creation of a Green Job Corps that will promote community- based growth opportunities for traditionally hard-to-employ workers I even more enthusiastically support the creation of these jobs around the care of our environment and the active stewardship of our city, which holds such wonders and history possibilities. ), who will take a moment to speak from their minds.
Good afternoon, young people. STUDENT #1: Good afternoon. My name is LeVar Hunter. I'm a 7th grade student at Wissahickon Charter School.
Okay. I need to ask you to please lower the mic so you can talk directly in it, and 151 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 start again so that we can clearly hear your full name. STUDENT #1: Okay. My name is LeVar Hunter. I'm a 7th grade student Wissahickon Charter School.
Thank you. STUDENT #1: In coming across my research for my speech, I happened to find some strong words that were from Van Jones. Van Jones strongly compares social and environmental issues. Two problems confront us: social inequality and environmental destruction. Both problems are affecting our city in many terrible ways. We act as if they are separate, but they are linked economically, politically, and morally. The solutions and strategies for each must, therefore, be one. The United States is both the world's leading polluter and the world's leading incarcerater, which is 152 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 a total embarrassment to our nation. In the City of Oakland, where environmental and national activist Van Jones resides, they spend more money on prisons than for their colleges, and I can imagine that it's the same here in Philadelphia. The U.S. spends tens of billions of dollars subsidizing mass incarceration and spends hundreds of billions subsidizing polluters, despoilers, and clear cutters. By creating green jobs, it will keep children off the street and money earned by working not doing something that they shouldn't be doing. Create green jobs. I promise you you won't regret it. Thank you.
Repeat that last sentence, please. STUDENT #1: Create green jobs. I promise you you won't regret it.
Thank you. 153 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 (Applause.) STUDENT #2: My name is Ajanay Paget, and I'm a 8th grader at Wissahickon Charter School. Not to tell you a whole life story about me, but since 3rd grade, I was one of the first students at Wissahickon Charter School. And from day one, they were all talking about the environment and everything, and they really made me want to be involved with the environment and animals. So responding to her question, what would happen outside of the school walls within the environment, this year, after I graduate, I'm going to Sol Agricultural High School to stick with my environmental reputation and stuff. And so, Van Jones was -- I think he -- since I started studying him, I think he could be one of my heroes because he -- he went above and 154 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 beyond to live his dream, and he became famous for living his dream, and I want to do the same thing. He reminds me of Martin Luther King and the other famous African-American people. And since 4th grade, I think, we have been studying, like, anything about the environment that we can get our hands on. So it was, like, different programs that we can be in. So right now, I'm in the outdoor program, and Saturdays and Sundays, we may have camping trips and hiking trips. And we also have a harmony garden outside of the school, and it's, like, I think it was made to something for the water that when it rains -- yeah. And so -- and now the 8th graders are now studying what to do with the rest of the playground, with the rest of the yard area out there. 155 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 We're studying playgrounds to see what types of environments kids of different ages like so we can mix it all together and have a perfect playground for everybody of every age. And so we're doing biodiesel since, like, sixth grade. So I might not remember it well, but we're mixing vegetable oil and we're being associated with two different restaurants, and so the biodiesel fuel will help run buses, and the benefits are to help -- to help air pollution so not to -- the buses won't have as much smoke and gas coming out the pipes. And so that's basically how we are helping with the environment and be better people, like sticking to Van Jones' word. So leading -- like -- I can't get the words out. It's like, um, so if a greener world is a brighter world for us because without -- correct me if I'm 156 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 wrong, but if we didn't have any trees or any grass or anything, the earth wouldn't be the same. It wouldn't be -- I don't even think it would be alive 'cause without the trees and without the environment, it wouldn't be no -- well, trees help with the CO2 and the oxygen and everything. And so with the green jobs, it will help people who don't have -- yeah, who don't have a real good education or whatever, it will help them to have a job and actually play a part in helping the earth by just being them, by just doing whatever. Thank you.
Well, thank you very, very much, all of you, for your testimony. (Applause.)
And we want to say a huge thank-you to the young people for your testimony and for your experience. It's a woeful 157 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 reminder to us that we need to do more to get more young people like you ready for tomorrow's world. Thank you very much. Councilman Jones?
I would just like to echo the Chairlady's comments. I could not have been prouder of that testimony. They get it. And, hopefully, this Council and our administration will get it too. So we'll try to keep up with you guys. Now, just out of curiosity, where are you guys located? STUDENT #2: 4700 Wissahickon Avenue.
And one other question: Did you have a teacher named Miss Upshaw, Gina Upshaw? STUDENT #1: Yes. She's a 6th grade teacher. 158 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266
She's a 6th grade teacher? STUDENT #1: Is she your daughter?
'Cause I'm her dad, and if something's wrong, you tell me. (Laughter.) STUDENT #2: She buys us snacks every Friday.
All right. I just wanted to make sure of that. And I've been to your school. It's a wonderful place, it's ecofriendly, it's all about green, and I'm very proud to have it in the 4th Councilmatic District. Thank you for your testimony today. STUDENT #2: You're welcome.
A couple 159 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 of questions, please. The Sustainable Business Network, are any of the chambers represented at those meetings, the African-American Chamber, the Greater Philadelphia Chamber, the Hispanic Chamber, the -- I believe it's Asian, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but are any of the chambers represented?
The Asian-American Chamber of Commerce was represented at the March 20th session. In addition, the Chamber of Commerce and the African-American Chamber of Commerce were both invited but did not attend. I've recently connected with the new director of the African- American Chamber, and she and I are going to be meeting within the next few weeks.
Okay. Farms, you mentioned farms. I believe that was the school, the principal of 160 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 the Wissahickon Charter School talked about you're using farms someplace in the work that you're doing?
We've talked to a number of farm producers that need to get their goods from their farm for drop-offs for CSAs. We've offered to barter our diesel fuel for organic goods.
Okay. So we can presume that they are local farmers, which is --
Does the garden have a entrepreneurial element, this community garden?
We struggle with our own lunch service in trying to get local produce into our own lunches, so we're kind of neophytes in that process right now. We partner with the Arboretum, and Weaver's Way has a wonderful 161 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 garden that our children have participated in farming, and so it's growing, no pun intended.
We're growing and learning. In fact, Councilman Jones, you had mentioned a green zone. I think the area right outside of our school would be an ideal location for a green zone, and I would love to work with you on that.
Actually, that is one of the areas being considered -- you're right -- near an industrial park that has seen better times, and the idea here is, as land becomes more valuable and opportunities become more valuable, we need to raise the bar on what our expectations are by way of our corporate citizens and neighbors, and one of the expectations is some consideration for our environment. 162 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266
Is the Department of Commerce represented at the Sustainable Network meetings?
Yes, they are. Both Karen Randall and Terry Gillen, who have been very involved in our planning efforts.
And then lastly, you indicate that reports have been produced -- is that what I heard? -- from Strategy Arts, that of those four areas, policy, funding, job training, and employer relations, you said reports have been -- the next step, the next tangible steps are --
Right. So each of the committees has identified both short-term goals to help get to the hundred students in jobs by the end of the year and to start putting the infrastructure together, and they've also identified longer-term goals that 163 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 are going to help to get more of the jobs moving, 'cause we consider a hundred jobs as a starting point and a very small starting point, but a meaningful one.
So then if you have identified a tangible number -- one should never assume anything. Is Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation at the table?
All right. That takes care of all of my questions. Thank you very much for your important testimony, and the word continues as we look to crafting recommendations, but more importantly being a part of the task force that was shared by the City Commerce Director so that we're all working in 164 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 tandem down this road. Councilman Jones?
Thank you, Madam Chair. A couple of quick questions. As we start to look at these jobs -- and I know that we will have Sandra Glenn from the School Reform Commission testify, but one of the things that I use as a comparison to where we are with green jobs is to where we were maybe years ago with 14 cable. 15
To where we 17 were with cable. As we looked at it 18 then, I don't know if we truly 19 understood what an impact on the local 20 economy it would be from, cable installers to customer-service reps to engineers to repairmen to bill- collectors to lawyers. It was like a pebble in a pond that had rippling effects throughout our economy, which 165 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 was, for the most part, positive. I see us at that time now, where we will have -- in the last testimony if you were here in the chambers, you heard people talk about cost-benefit analysis of greening activities and the application of a almost accounting background that would be required, which you wouldn't altogether think of at first when you came to a green job. But those are the kinds of opportunities -- everything from -- people have come to my office and, I'm sure, the Council Lady's office to talk about energy audits and guarantees by way of savings, and whether or not these said statements are true and we are realizing those cost savings, I have an ebonic saying that "if it ain't measured, it ain't managed." And so people make these green claims without substantiating them and so we buy things that may not 166 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 work. So what I'm saying is, there's a whole cottage industry that can be developed by that. As we start to multiple that by wind, by solar, by thermal, by corn versus cellulose fuel sources, we really need to kind of retro-engineer that back into training programs for people that are going to take advantages not of jobs of the future but jobs of right now. If we look at the infrastructure of this entire city, it's a old city, it has to be rebuilt. If we start to pass green zones, there's going to be a whole industry and a whole need for a workforce that we need to prepare now.
Thank you, Councilman. And I do want to point out that this is a wonderful time for Philadelphia, and there is an amazing amount of interest in green 167 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 businesses. Our membership at the Sustainable Business Network has grown by a hundred new members alone just in the past few months. And so there are green businesses here, there are green businesses that have come to this state and to this region, and our local policy has not been very welcoming to green businesses to date. And so what we're hoping to see and what our policy committee is working on is looking at what could Philadelphia do to better retain existing green businesses and attract businesses to the region. And we're currently looking at policies that have been put in place in other cities --
-- that have made it a place that really does draw green businesses, 'cause that's important here. 168 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266
As we look retro-engineer, when these young people are coming out of Wissahickon Charter School, they have a opportunity either to go on to college and university and pursue those kinds of advanced degrees in those specific areas. Or, just like at the turn of the century, they could come out of high school and wind up in a entry- level job in a industry that they are prepared and uniquely qualified to take advantage of. So we want to prepare on both tracks.
You may. And certainly state your name again for the record.
Sure. Scott Wheeler. There were two points you 169 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 made, which I just wanted to echo. You compared the early days of the cable industry, and I would agree that that's a very good analogy, but this is actually much bigger than that because it crosses so many sectors of the economy, and there are so many industry sectors that we can actually find where green jobs are going to be applicable in the very newer future, if they're not already today. And the second point you made, which I also -- I heard the earlier session. Measurement is a very critical part of this, because there's the easy things to do the and the visible things to do, and then there's the real things to do, and a lot of those have to be backed up by financial backing and understanding of the financial impacts. And one of the areas we work in when we consult with businesses is in sustainability, and there's just 170 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 three things that I wanted to bring forward to think about that businesses think about. One of them is the cost savings, and so that will drive behaviors when you have good bottom-line, baseline measurements. The second is policy, so there are things that may cost them more but because policies are set, that's going to be something they need to do and they focus on, and you've talked about that with your green zones. And then the other is actually the demand from consumers so that products and things that they make are going to drive some of their behaviors.
Okay. Well, again, thank you for very 171 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 important testimony. I look forward to the documents that come out of those four committees, particularly the committee on policy. And we want to again say a huge thank-you to the young people, wherein either six years from now or eight years from now, you'll be our new leading environmental experts. Thank you very much. Thank you all. (Applause.)
Next up: Sandra Dungee Glenn of the American Cities Foundation; Christine Knapp of PennFuture, Judy Wicks of White Dog Cafe; and Sonia De Van-Lake, representing Earnest Jones of the Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation. (Witnesses come forward.)
Good afternoon, Councilwoman Reynolds-Brown and Councilman Jones. My name is Sandra Dungee Glenn, and I come before you today in my dual roles as President of the American Cities Foundation and Chairwoman of the School Reform Commission for the School District of Philadelphia. And I want to thank you Councilwoman Reynolds-Brown and I also want to thank your colleague Wilson Goode, Jr. for sponsoring the resolution that provides us with an opportunity to come before you today in support of the creation of the Philadelphia Green Job Corps. And as spoken to in the March 6th resolution, I believe the creation of a Green Job Corps will move Philadelphia into a job-development 173 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 strategy that is proactive rather than reactive. With increasing attention being given to the need to live in ways that sustain rather than deplete our natural resources, consumers, businesses and governments are responding by demanding products, services, and business practices that promote environmental health. In this emerging green economy, we'll need train and committed workers to grow. We need to prepare unemployed and underemployed Philadelphia residents for these jobs. And I'd like to add that there's also an opportunity, as has been stated, for City Council to support the growth and expansion of local neighborhood-based entrepreneurs into this growing green sector. Growing businesses will also grow jobs. The American Cities Foundation, or ACF fully supports the 174 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 Green Job Corps initiative. ACF, founded in 1992, is committed to designing new strategies to revitalize urban America and approve the quality of life for children and families. We strive to uncover and develop best practices around core issues like urban education, community leadership development, neighborhood revitalization, and business development that can be shared and replicated with other groups and cities. For the past four years, we have been bringing environmentalism into Philadelphia's neighborhoods and engaging residents, especially people of color, in environmental activism. Our work, Project NEAT (Neighborhood Environment Action Teams), funded by EPA to address storm-water runoff, demonstrates that City residents are eager to be environmental activists and students. 175 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 Led by our NEAT Director, Dennis Lee, Project NEAT has planted over 1,000 trees, removed 165 tons of debris, and reclaimed vacant, under-utilized land and buildings as community centers, recreation space, and commercial centers that showcase environmental best-management practices like porous surfaces, cisterns, green roofs, and rain barrels in Mill Creek, Cedar Park, Strawberry Mansion, Eastwick, Kingsessing, Overbrook, Wynnefield, and other Philadelphia neighborhoods. In fact, as a result of our second Urban Environmental Summit on April 26th, entitled "Going the Green Route," ACF's Project NEAT will be installing 76 rain barrels with home owners in West, Southwest, and North Philadelphia over the next two months. Project NEAT works by involving neighborhood leaders and residents. We have over 150 176 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 neighborhood, civic, environmental, and government agency partners, including a number of the members who were here today. The project has also provided part-time employment and training to 114 neighborhood residents, many of them ex-offenders. Forty-five percent of our part-timers have moved on to better jobs after their time with us. The American Cities Foundation's demonstration project shows Philadelphians are ready and willing to take action to clean up the air, water, and land in our communities. And we are demonstrating that when we are strategic, we can make an explicit connection between Philadelphians' environmental health, neighborhood revitalization, and employment.
A City-sponsored Green Job Corps, using Oakland California as a model, offers an opportunity to work 177 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 at scale, target scarce job training and development dollars, and provide coordination to local nonprofits and for-profit organizations engaged in this work. But I do want to add a word of caution: Philadelphia's policy should target its Green Job Corps to the training for green-collar jobs as defined by Dr. Raquel Rivera Pinderhughes in her study for Berkley, California. And it should target Philadelphia residents with barriers to employment. Dr. Pinderhughes, a professor at San Francisco State University, defines green-collar jobs, as has been stated, as blue-collar jobs or manual- labor jobs in green businesses. These are relatively high-quality jobs with low barriers to entry, jobs that provide workers with opportunities for advancement, and jobs that are located in sectors that are growing rapidly. 178 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 Dr. S. economy as sectors with 4 green-collar jobs. 5 Because these jobs offer a 6 prime opportunity to place unemployed 7 Philadelphians in living-wage jobs, 8 Philadelphia's Green Job Corps should 9 target men and women from populations 10 that include youth and adults without 11 a high school diploma, the formerly 12 incarcerated, and the long-term 13 unemployed. By engaging these 14 populations, we can proactively attack 15 some of the root causes of crime and 16 violence in our city. We can connect 17 being a cleaner and greener city with 18 being a safer and better-educated 19 city. 20 ACF recently sponsored a 21 leadership round table for 22 environmental, corporate, academic, and civic organizations to meet and to talk with Dr. Pinderhughes and Deputy Mayor Andrew Altman about a 179 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 Philadelphia green-collar jobs strategy. We are also working as part of the Sustainable Business Network's coalition to develop a green-job and business strategy that promotes economic equity. And we're excited to have the opportunity to share our experiences and our research with City Council. We're also prepared to support this work through our Community Leadership Training Institute to assist with the job-training component and our Project Rise, which provides technical assistance to small emerging businesses in West Philadelphia. Finally, while the School Reform Commission has not taken a formal position on the Green Job Corps proposal, we are in full support of Council's work to provide additional pathways to our high school students, particularly students who may otherwise be at risk of dropping out 180 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 of school. I want to thank you for this opportunity to address you today and look forward to working with you on this important endeavor. And I also need to just excuse myself. S. Senator Casey at 1 o'clock, so I'm going to go because I think he could be very helpful to our school district, so -- but I want to thank you for your time and again for this opportunity, but if you have any questions, I'll be happy to address them now.
Let's entertain them now then, given your schedule, if we can. You said you need -- no, I have here a meeting with Mr. Altman. Is the Commerce Department still here? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: They just left. 181 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266
Okay. So we'll get back to that. The number of activities you stated about NEAT, how can citizens, home owners gain access to NEAT? What's the processes of procedure for that?
Well, simply really by calling our office. Project NEAT has worked with community organizations around the City. Our phone number's 215-476-8091, and we would be happy to each reach out and continue to work an expand if there are groups that are interested in working with us, absolutely.
So then that agreement that you had with the federal government does not restrict it to certain communities; it's a citywide effort?
But we are open to working with organizations throughout Philadelphia.
Okay then. Thank you. Are you prepared now to say how this body and/or the Commerce Department can be more helpful with regards to your recommendation that those very specific audiences that you talked about indeed get roped into the pipeline for green-collar jobs: the ex-offenders, at-risk young people, and those who have been unemployed for a long time?
Well, I think there are a number of organizations around this city, dozens and dozens of them, who are responsible and charged with and often funded to work with those populations, specific populations.
I think one 183 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 of the challenges as we develop the policy is that those organizations need to be at the table, because I think this is the right effort, but I don't think we should underestimate the network of support services that have to be in place to make sure that it can successfully meet and target those populations. They need a lot of support in, I guess, a number of soft, I guess -- kind of what you might call "soft skilled" or social supports that are in addition to the job training. So I think we need to carefully think through what those needs are, what organizations have been most effective at filling those gaps, and making sure that they are a part of the strategy to design both the training program, the on-the-job internships and then the after-training portions of it to make sure that these residents can really 184 5/5/08 - ENVIRONMENT - Res. 080266 be successful.