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CHARLESTON, WV-The Council of the Southern Mountains, with the support of the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity, has launched a statewide workforce training and development initiative dedicated to sustainability issues and career development.
The non-profit West Virginia Greenworks, Inc., will focus on training and retraining workers for opportunities and emerging careers in high performance building, renewable and alternative energy, and energy conservation. It will also offer sustainability information and training in other key arenas including transportation, air quality, water and waste water management, land use and planning, forestry, and agriculture, according to Executive Director Sarah Halstead Boland.
"WV GreenWorks will make sure that West Virginians have the same opportunities to train for high paying careers and quality of life improvements that are available in other parts of the country," Halstead Boland said. "If we train and educate our people to integrate sustainable planning and best practices for transportation, housing, agriculture, land and resource management, research indicates that we could see a dramatic turnaround in environmental and economic indicators in which we currently score so poorly. True focus on sustainability, efficiency and conservation could help us redefine ourselves regionally, nationally, and globally. West Virginia is at a crossroads. WVGreenworks aims to pave the path toward cooperative sustainability in this state."
"GreenWorks will operate in three major areas," Halstead Boland continued. "We will offer comprehensive training for workers and entrepreneurs, information and education to employers, and we will work to unite training and information providers around the state so West Virginians can easily learn of opportunities and programs. One of the key drivers for this initiative is uncovering the best training and partnering to make sure that the people who need it know that it's available. This means pulling together to make sure that critical training and education opportunities are well-known. Our K-12 schools, community colleges and universities, industry partners and other workforce development professionals need to work together as never before to make sure that West Virginians understand the opportunities in the new and green economies."
The organization's first offering, a HERS certification preparation course, begins Monday, April 5 in Teays Valley. HERS is the acronym for Home Energy Raters, the energy auditing certification from the Residential Network (RESNET), which is required for Energy Star and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating systems. Greenworks will also offer Building Performance Institute (BPI) Building Analyst certification, and HERS/BPI bundled certification course, and a weatherization boot camp for contractors, with classes around the state to be announced. |
Halstead Boland is organizing community GreenWorks Meet Ups across the state to discuss green career opportunities, training, education, community and economic development. The MetroValley GreenWorks Meet Up is March 22 from 3:00 - 4:30 pm at the Charleston Workforce WV Career Center. The southern WV meeting is April 5 from 3:00 - 4:30 pm at the Welch Workforce WV Career Center. Future dates and locations will be posted on www.WVGreenWorks.com.
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WV GreenWorks Vision
Working with schools, industry, government and community-based organizations, WVGreenWorks, Inc. will contribute to transforming West Virginia's workforce into one that innovates, and is truly ready for 21st century jobs. WV GreenWorks Mission
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