Green Jobs Education Session: The Green Economy and Community Based Workforce Development Organizations   This 2.5 hour workshop will introduce the green economy and some of the growing industry sectors and explore the role that community based workforce development organizations can play. Participants will learn about different drivers of the green economy, including the state and federal policy context as well as the environmental context. We will review examples of programming being done by community based workforce development organizations in other regions.  Participation in the workshop provides participants with:

• A working definition of the green economy, including relevant industry sectors and the jobs projected within them,
• An understanding of the connection between climate change and green jobs ,
• An overview of national, state and local policies/regulations that create opportunity,
• Information on the role community based workforce development organizations are playing in other places in US ,
• Opportunity to discuss practical and policy opportunities for MA workforce development community based organizations.

 Workshop facilitator, Alex Risley Schroeder: Alex works with Mass Workforce Alliance on policy education and advocacy, particularly around the green economy and the opportunities it presents for low-income communities and the workforce development organizations that serve them. She also works as a green careers coach in western Massachusetts. ****************************************** 

Know and Go: The Mass Workforce Alliance has developed a half-day advocacy training called Know and Go. Built on our PEER Project, Know and Go training helps frontline workforce development professionals to understand the current system and how their particular expertise is vital to the creation of good pubic policy. If you are interested in scheduling a Know and Go session, please contact Alex Risley Schroeder at: alex@massworkforcealliance.org.

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PEER: MWA's PEER Project is a 12 hour training in three sessions. PEER builds the active engagement of community-based workforce development practitioners and program participants/graduates in policy issues - in order to build a stronger, more effective workforce development system. The project, launched in 2004, focuses on policy issues by: (1) educating and learning from practitioners; (2) building a policy advocacy network with the field; and (3) developing policy recommendations which reflect the needs of the field.