The Inflation Reduction Act promises to invest millions of dollars in training a new clean energy workforce, providing “family sustaining jobs” for disadvantaged communities. The National Skills Coalition recently sat down with industry leaders to discuss how that’s going to work.
by Sarah Fister Gale
September 29, 2022
In August, 2022 President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act. The sweeping bill earmarks massive investments for training programs to support job growth in clean energy industries, and to incentivize expansion of pathways into these jobs. It is the third in a series of legislative actions, along with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the CHIPS and Science Act that together promise to reinvigorate America’s workforce and provide free training to disadvantaged and displaced communities across the country.
U.S. Secretary of Energy weighs in
“These three laws give us our best shot at building an inclusive and equitable economy,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said during a fireside chat with Andy Van Kleunen, CEO of the National Skills Coalition. “We are putting the full force of the federal government into rebuilding the backbone of the economy by investing in the clean energy industries that will drive the future of the global economy.”
She estimates these acts will create nine million new well-paying jobs across the country by 2030.
These resources will be further supported by the federal government’s Justice 40 Initiative, which sets a goal that 40 percent of benefits from certain federal investments flow to communities that are marginalized, underserved and overburdened by pollution.
Now, the key is to create training programs to support paths into clean energy jobs, and to leverage public and private organizations to link disadvantaged communities to these opportunities.
“Good workforce development depends on the connective tissue between the private sector, employers, the unions and the community-based organizations,” Granholm said. “That’s particularly true for workforce development efforts aimed at serving disadvantaged communities.”
Her department has launched several programs that are already making an impact and proving that these public-private partnerships can pay off. They include $102 million in funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and minority serving institutions to invest in STEM research, workforce development and apprenticeship opportunities and $10 million invested by her department’s solar office, through Advancing Equity, a program that encourages community organizations, labor unions and employers to collaborative create workforce development programs to support the solar industry. “We are looking through the lens of how to rectify past wrongs and give opportunities to folks who will become the next generation of clean energy workers,” she said.
IT industry offers a roadmap
Van Kleunen was also joined by a panel of local workforce development leaders to discuss how these resources could be deployed to support training in their communities.
The panel included Laure-Jeanne Davignon, vice president of the Workforce Interstate Renewable Energy Council, who spoke of the importance of collaboration between federal and local organizations going forward. “It will be absolutely critical to achieve the scaling of practices, processes and resources that we need to support the clean energy transition,” Davignon said.
She pointed to the IT industry as an example of how public-private partnerships enabled the rapid deployment of free training and wraparound services to support growth in the tech industry while creating “family-sustaining jobs.” She believes communities can follow a similar path to train a clean energy workforce and make the most of these federal resources.
John Brauer, workforce and economic development program director for the California Labor Federation, noted that there are several innovative training models in California that could provide a roadmap for organizations that aspire to build clean energy training programs.
He pointed to the State Building and Construction Trades’ Multi-Craft core curriculum program, which offers an industry-recognized pre-apprentice program that leads to apprenticeship, and the Amalgamated Transit Union which is creating apprenticeship programs to teach auto industry workers how to maintain electric vehicles. “In a lot of cases folks already have the right skills for industry, we are just bringing them into new contexts,” he said.
Get the word out
Along with creating job training, local and federal leaders also need to focus on outreach, said Lisa Bly-Jones, CEO of the Chicago Jobs Council. “If someone doesn’t understand the opportunities, it’s hard to see themselves going down one of these pathways,” she said. In Illinois, resources from the Inflation Act will support 16 Workforce Development hubs across the state to support workforce training specifically for people of color and those who live in low-income communities.
To ensure these programs deliver the desired impact, her organization is constantly doing outreach to educate people about free training programs, the jobs they can lead to and how communities can benefit. “There is a long-term benefit to engaging people in these conversations and letting them know these programs lead to real careers,” Bly-Jones said.
At the end of the chat, Van Kleunen encouraged employers, union leaders and workforce learning and development organizations to take advantage of the bounty of new resources to create programs that will prepare local communities for new jobs in the clean energy and battery production sectors. “Because building a clean energy future with the full involvement of a more diverse, well-trained and prosperous workforce will be a win for a planet and for millions of working people throughout this country,” he said.
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