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Grants Awarded to Retrain Workers for Jobs in Green-Energy Technology

By George Pyle
January 09, 2010,

 Two retraining projects aimed at turning some of Western New York’s displaced steel and auto workers into green-energy technicians have been awarded nearly $7 million in funding from a pool of federal money created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The grants, part of a $100 million round of awards given to 25 projects across the nation, were announced by the U. S. Labor Department and Sens. Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.

One awards $4.7 million to the Institute for Career Development, an Indiana-based organization that will assist displaced steelworkers in four states acquire the skills to install and maintain wind energy turbines, solar energy systems and geothermal operations.

The project is designed to help 2,000 participants in targeted counties in four states, including Erie County and counties in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The skills to be taught include those needed by the wind and solar energy industries, as well as those required to retrofit homes and businesses into more energy-efficient buildings.

The other grant directs $1.9 million to the National Ironworkers and Employers Apprenticeship Training and Journeyman Upgrading Fund. It is to help 510 ironworkers in five states, including workers in Erie, Niagara, Onondaga and St. Lawrence counties in New York, move from making steel and making cars to creating sustainable energy systems.

Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis said the grants were part of the Obama administration’s commitment to building both an economic recovery and a clean energy future.

“It’s an investment that will help American workers succeed while doing good,” Solis said in a statement released by the Labor Department.

The grants are administered by the Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration, and are to be followed by another $400 million in similar work force development grants to be announced in the coming weeks.

gpyle@buffnews.com