Supporting community colleges in educating for and building a green economy
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Resource Center

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Educational resources from SEED Center partners and corporate sponsors
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Resource Center

Instructions

The Resource Center is a curated collection of information organized around 7 green economy “Sectors” and 7 “Topics.” In time, more Sectors will be added. Topics represent those areas in which educators and workforce development professionals continue to seek direction.

You can search by sector or by topic. Or across all sectors and/or all topics.

You can also perform a keyword search of all resources on the top right of this page.

Overview

Solar

The solar industry is expected to show steady growth over the coming decade largely due to rising energy prices, advances in technology through public/private partnerships and investments, and continued enactment of federal and state policies and financial incentives. more >>

Wind

Wind power is considered a leading source of new electricity generation in the United States, with the potential of providing 20% of the nation’s energy needs by 2030. more >>

Green Building

The green building market has expanded five fold over the last three years to a $48 billion national market—and is projected to triple in the next five years. more >>

Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency is considered the foundation of a vibrant and sustainable green economy, and one of the most cost effective ways to lower energy consumption, reduce operating costs, and mitigate carbon emissions. more >>

Sustainability Education

Sustainability education refers generally to learning experiences that enable students to develop the knowledge, behaviors and skills to help create healthier ecosystems, social systems, and economies. For the purposes of the SEED Center, this includes resources to help build non-credit continuing education for the incumbent workforce and integrating sustainability curriculum into existing credit programs. more >>

Sustainable Ag., Food & Land

The Sustainable Ag., Food & Land sector covers the areas of organic farming, horticulture, culinary art, and landscaping. This sector includes organizations and resources that integrate environmental, social and economic factors into land use, food preparation, and land specific practices in an attempt to create a more sustainable future. more >>

General Clean Tech

The General Clean Tech sector is a space for resources that encompass multiple ‘green’ sectors. Many are applicable to the broader clean economy and sustainability-related technology and will serve the general clean tech community. Resources also provide valuable information on sectors that are experiencing substantive development in the sustainability realm, like manufacturing and smart grid. more >>

Transportation and Fuels

The Transportation & Fuels sector covers the area of electric and hybrid vehicle development and maintenance, other forms of alternative and sustainable transportation, natural gas, fuel cells, battery storage, and renewable fuels sources including ethanol, biodiesel, algae, and methane. more >>

Certifications and Industry Credentials

Certainly, one of the biggest challenges facing green educators is the rapid and mostly uncoordinated emergence of green certifications and credentials. more >>
 

Curricular Materials

These resources and materials have been vetted by industry and education experts, and while not in the form of specific educator tools, will assist in creating quality curricula for your classroom. more >>

You will find more specific educator tools (e.g. syllabi, lab manuals, lesson plans, special classroom projects, equipment lists, etc.) submitted by SEED member colleges in our Curricular Materials Sharing Portal.

Employment Industry Projections

While job training providers have been quite active in past years working with local industry to define the emerging green jobs market and potential job growth areas, most still struggle to forecast accurately regional occupational demand. The U.S. Department of Labor has made recent strides toward classifying green occupations and competencies which will help communities define and track green jobs (and colleges to design appropriate education and training programs). Given the uncertain renewable energy and efficiency industry outlook, and rapidly changing technologies, access to the most up-to-date industry studies and employment projections will be critical. more >>

Innovative Practices & Partnerships

The job creation potential of the green economy has led to some unique job training and economic development partnerships and collaborations. more >>

Professional Development Resources

This section includes promising facilitated learning opportunities, including “train the trainer” programs, standing conferences, and informal learning opportunities situated in practice for faculty and staff seeking to further their knowledge of industry trends and requirements. more >>

Policy & Funding Sources

Included you will find links and descriptions of agencies and organizations that typically fund sustainability and green job training initiatives as well as those that provide important information on national legislation and policies relevant to the clean energy sector. CHECK BACK AS MORE ARE ADDED. This section also highlights resources that provide guidance on how to supply input into program and grant design for certain agency solicitations. more >>

Skill sets, Competencies & Career Pathways

This section includes lists and assessments of skill sets and competencies tied to the green economy – across the broad industry as well as within specific sectors. It also includes some critical resources that colleges can use to align programs and facilitate student transitions. Included are green energy competency models and newly-developed career pathways that allow movement across educational and training programs. more >>

Sector: Topic:

Featured Resources

Report - A Green Career Pathways Framework: Postsecondary and Employment Success for Low-Income, Disconnected Youth

Released July 2011, this report explores the extent to which this emerging green economy can offer a pathway out of poverty for low-income young people and offers guidance to youth programs about how to learn more about and access industry-driven green credentialing and career pathways development work within local communities or regions. The paper offers a multi-step Framework that outlines strategies for connecting to career pathway efforts and delineates a three-phase model design to inform the construction of on-ramp programming.
CLICK HERE to learn more about this report.

Report: The Greening of Corrections, Creating a Sustainable System
This report identifies green job training programs that provide quality employment opportunities in the emerging green economy. While the section, Completing the Sustainable Model (p 20), provides corrections administrators ways to adapt existing training programs and build strategic partners that support the continuum of learning opportunities during a transition to a greener economy, it is highly relevant to Community College administrators as well.
Workforce Trends & Needs in Green Sectors
Presented at the CCCAOE Fall 2011 Conference, this presentation incorporates data from solar and water studies. Also explored were results of a year-long examination of "green jobs" conducted in partnership with the EDD's Labor Market Information Division (LMID), which focused on identifying the impact of "green" in creating new tasks, skills, and knowledge areas for today's workforce. Economic & Workforce Development assistance was provided through the California Community Colleges and the presentation works to inform community colleges and the workforce community. It covers the industries that are driving growth in “green” employment and what “green” skills and knowledge employers are looking for. It provides a summary on where community colleges should invest resources and can be seen as an example of what regions can do to engage educational and employer institutions.

More Resources

OECD Sustainable Manufacturing Metrics Toolkit
This free toolkit provides a set of 18 internationally applicable, common and comparable key performance indicators to measure and improve the environmental performance of manufacturing facilities and products.
NCSE’s Campus to Careers (C2C) Program
The clearinghouse enables  students to search for internships in some of the environmental fields and provides possible career pathways for students.
Greenforce Initiative: Resources
This page list the extensive resources of  the Greenforce Initiative, an effort to strengthen the capacity of community colleges to develop, enhance or refine green career pathway programs in six regions of the U.S. Jobs for the Future (JFF) and National Wildlife Federation (NWF) are partners in this initiative.
American College Personnel Association (ACPA) College Student Educators International - Learning Outcomes for Sustainability Education
Student Learning Outcomes for Sustainability Education from the ACPA College Student Educators International Sustainability Taskforce .
Clean Energy Trends 2010
Report discussed how clean energy has become a driving force for economic recovery, both nationally and internationally.
Green Collar Workers and Other Mythical Creatures, book authored by Marc Anderberg.
Labor market analysts have to cut through the fog of overlapping, conflicting and even nonsensical uses of the terms “green jobs” and “green collar workers” before they can give valid and reliable counts of workers employed in them, provide employment demand growth estimates and identify the requisite KSAs for green employment (as opposed to employment in their non-green predecessors). This book explores the myths and mysteries of green collar jobs and offers an action agenda to aid workforce professionals in understanding and implementing job training requirements imposed by Title X of the Green Jobs Act of 2007.
IREC 2009 Conference Presentations: New Ideas in Educating a Workforce in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency
Conference website includes more than 70 conference presentations addressing job forecasts and labor profiles, state and federal workforce initiatives, career pathways, training partnerships, model curriculum, standards, and new approaches to training in the rapidly growing green economy.
Ohio Green Pathways: A Resource for People Seeking Education and Training in Green Careers in Ohio
In July 2009, Ohio Green Pathways was launched as a collaboration of the University System of Ohio and the Ohio Environmental Council. Ohio Green Pathways links education and training opportunities available in the University System of Ohio with jobs in green industries across our state.
Report - A Green Career Pathways Framework: Postsecondary and Employment Success for Low-Income, Disconnected Youth

Released July 2011, this report explores the extent to which this emerging green economy can offer a pathway out of poverty for low-income young people and offers guidance to youth programs about how to learn more about and access industry-driven green credentialing and career pathways development work within local communities or regions. The paper offers a multi-step Framework that outlines strategies for connecting to career pathway efforts and delineates a three-phase model design to inform the construction of on-ramp programming.
CLICK HERE to learn more about this report.

Report: Going Green - The Vital Role of Community Colleges in Building a Sustainable Future and Green Workforce
This report examines the growing role of community colleges in a low-carbon, clean energy economy; and, provides examples of innovative strategies and practices used by community colleges to address climate change, environmental stewardship, and green workforce development. It offers information on the fastest growing sectors and jobs in the clean energy/green economy that provide strategic opportunities for community colleges and their students. Stimulates the dialogue on the role of community colleges in creating a sustainable future; and, presents useful websites and resources for further information.
- You may also Read It here

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This resource made possible with the generous support from the Kresge Foundation