Renewable Energy

New Mexico Green Jobs Curriculum Gets Aldo Leopold High School Lauch
By Allyson Siwik, Executive Director

The emerging green economy represents a tremendous opportunity for economic development in New Mexico, with the potential to provide thousands of low-income workers with high-quality, middle-skill jobs. A Pew Charitable Trusts study concluded that the clean energy and “clean tech” sectors represent some of the fastest-growing industries in the nation.

Given our state’s significant renewable energy resources significant renewable energy resources, range of incentives, and progressive laws, we are well positioned to experience significant “green industry” growth. According to the New Mexico Green Jobs Guidebook, over the past decade our clean-energy sector grew by 118 percent, energy efficiency by 184 percent, environmentally friendly production by 99 percent, and conservation and pollution mitigation by 35 percent. The American Solar Energy Association pre-dicts by 2020 some 237,000 jobs could be created in New Mexico’s renewable and energy efficiency sectors.

But how do we develop a well-trained workforce to meet future demand? Ensure that youth from communities with social and environmental justice concerns can also take part in the green economy? Part of the answer is GRIP’s new “Introduction to Green Jobs” curriculum, providing low-income students with a collaborative structure that will support and guide them from high school to post-secondary training in green-job skills. Funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Justice Small Grants Program, the strategy seeks to improve skills development and to strengthen the education pipeline for green careers.

Developed in partnership with Silver City’s Aldo Leopold High School, the “Introduction to Green Jobs” curriculum has followed a multi-disciplinary approach by synthesizing input and expertise from a Curriculum Advisory Committee comprised of green businesses, economic development, public education, and workforce development experts as well as secondary and post-secondary school educators. It integrates the state’s latest projections and employer needs with standards-based curricula in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), social studies, career readiness, and training/educational resources. Career guidance and mentoring are incorporated.

The curriculum will be piloted this spring at Aldo Leopold, with local green businesses, workforce development agencies, and organizations providing guest speakers, hands-on training, and real-world experience to students. In June, the high school and GRIP will present the curriculum to educators regionally and around the state.

The project follows release of a New Mexico Green Jobs Cabinet Report that specifically identifies a statewide need for “the development of new curricula, educational and training programs, and communication of those programs between secondary and post-secondary education, and industry.” Green workforce development in communities with social and environmental justice concerns is particularly critical to ensuring that all New Mexicans are well prepared for green jobs and that local capacity is developed for climate change mitigation and adaptation. (Governor Richardson’s Climate Change Task Force noted that low-income communities and those of color are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.)

The Working Poor Families Project, in a recent report by David Altstadt, warned that unless strong action is taken, clean energy jobs will remain largely out of reach of low-skilled, low-income adults in dire need of work and better wages.” Moreover, low-income workers in New Mexico face specific challenges identified by the Department of Workforce Solutions, including work readiness and basic skills (e.g., literacy) and other barriers to employment (e.g., childcare, transportation). Some of the specific barriers for low-income workers, according to Altstadt, include lack of access to such skills development opportunities, such as green-jobs training and apprentice¬ship programs.

In addition to Aldo Leopold, curriculum project partners include New Mexico’s departments of Workforce Solutions, Economic Development, and Public Education; Western New Mexico University’s Applied Technology Program, the Southwest Chapter of the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce, and the Silver City/Grant County Office of Sustainability.

French Fries to Go with GRIP's Charris Ford

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