New York state’s clean-energy workforce is continuing to grow, and one program is working to connect people from low-income communities with union apprenticeship opportunities.
Pathways to Apprenticeship’s clean-energy program combines climate policy and environmental justice education with workforce training. The program links participants with union apprenticeship programs while teaching them about climate change, clean-energy work and the role of organized labor.
Seagan Soobrian-Aziz was part of the inaugural class this year and said the program helped him understand climate change and its impacts beyond the workforce skills he gained.
“It gave me an opportunity to understand and to see what so many people are talking about, but how I can, myself, get the gameful knowledge and information I need to speak to others about it, and maybe we can make a change,” Soobrian-Aziz said.
For now, Soobrian-Aziz wants to work with the Ironworkers union, but he hopes to work as a contractor in the long term.
Research from Cornell University shows programs like this, along with other investments in the clean-energy workforce, are increasingly needed. The research finds New York’s clean-energy workforce is growing, although equity and job quality are lacking.
The two-day clean-energy program teaches participants about construction unions’ role in New York’s climate crisis response, the impacts of climate change on frontline communities and participants’ own experiences with climate change.
Melissa Shetler, assistant director of labor outreach and workforce equity for Cornell University’s Climate Jobs Institute, helped develop the clean-energy cohort curriculum. She said a key takeaway is that being in a union means being part of a broader movement.
“The labor movement is not only about the eight-hour workday, making sure you have healthcare or retirement when you’re finished working,” Shetler said. “But it’s also about the broader social issues: affordable housing, clean air, and clean water.”
Feedback on the program has been positive, with participants describing it as an eye-opening experience.
Gyasi Headen, executive director of Pathways to Apprenticeship, said the program’s future rests partly on how participants apply what they learned to their work, including on projects that are not specifically clean energy jobs.
“How participants can use their knowledge and background to say, ‘This is what I can do on my job site, even if it’s not a clean energy project, but what have I learned that I can use to help this project and help this specific site be more energy conscious, be more green?’” Headen said.
Edwin is a reporter and producer in North Tonawanda, New York. He’s previously reported for the Niagara Gazette and the Ithaca Times. Edwin got an early start in radio interning for WBFO-88.7FM, NPR’s Buffalo affiliate. In 2018, he graduated from SUNY Buffalo State College with a B.A. in Journalism, and in 2022, graduated from Syracuse University with an M.S. in Communications.