Climate Jobs Institute Pilots Climate Education Course for Pathways to Apprenticeship (P2A)
On Wednesday, June 25, Climate Jobs Institute (CJI) team members Daniel Castro, Melissa Shetler, Lyndsay Gehring, and Rohan Palacios piloted a first of its kind climate education course for a Pathways 2 Apprenticeship (P2A) Cohort. The pilot course bolsters CJI’s mission to tackle the climate crisis by supporting the transition to an equitable and resilient clean energy economy through building pathways to high-quality, family sustaining, union careers in the trades for frontline and EJ communities.
P2A runs full-time, five-week long, Monday-Friday, direct entry pre-apprenticeship programs in New York City. Since P2A’s founding in 2013, they have assisted hundreds of people from low-income communities to be admitted into Building Trades Apprenticeships. The pilot curriculum is part of the work for a two-year Chase Bank grant awarded to CJI. Among other objectives, the grant will develop a first of its kind two-day clean energy and climate education curriculum to deploy across multiple pre-apprenticeship cohorts in New York City. As participants prepare to enter careers in construction, CJI’s courses will help them identify specific trades of interest and how to speak to their goals in job interviews.The curriculum broadly hopes to explore individuals’ perceptions and experiences of climate change; introduce the link between the science behind climate change and the disproportionate effects on frontline, EJ, and immigrant communities; introduce students from frontline communities to opportunities for leadership in the labor and environmental movements; and illustrate the role of construction trades unions in responding to the climate crisis.
The CJI team piloted a two-hour module from the curriculum with eight P2A pre-apprentices. Participants and facilitators worked together to identify and explore introductory concepts of the science behind climate change; examine their personal relationships to climate change; and recognize job opportunities in the clean energy transition. Toward the end of the session, participants shared feedback with the facilitators, and discussed their personal takeaways.
CJI hopes to release the full curriculum this Fall - the institute will continue working with partners like P2A to develop climate education programming and prepare workers for the clean energy economy.
Photo caption: Daniel Castro, Melissa Shetler, Lyndsay Gehring, and Rohan Palacios with P2A students in Harlem, NY.
