Edwards Campaign Press Release - Edwards Initiative Would Train 150,000 American Workers A Year For "Green Collar" Jobs

Confronting the Challenge of Global Warming Also Brings Opportunities for New Iowa Jobs

Des Moines, Iowa – Senator John Edwards today announced a new initiative he would pursue as President to ensure that regular Americans share in the benefits of the new energy economy. His investments in a new energy future are projected to create over a million new jobs economy-wide, and the new Green Collar Jobs training plan will offer job training and placement for up to 150,000 workers a year.

"We can turn the crisis of climate change into an opportunity for a new energy economy, right here in America – and Iowa in particular," Edwards said. "Now is the time to make sure that the economy of tomorrow is an all-aboard economy where nobody is left behind."

John Edwards has already proposed an ambitious plan to cap global warming pollution and reduce it by 80 percent by 2050. At the same time, he will sell carbon pollution permits to build a New Energy Economy Fund to bring struggling family farms back to life, revitalize America's manufacturing base and harness American innovation.

The initiative announced today would ensure that this aggressive battle against global warming also translates into new Iowa jobs. In particular, the Edwards plan will:

• Provide Green Collar Jobs Training Grants that will help train and certify up to 150,000 workers a year for jobs in the new energy economy - meeting the needs of industry and Americans seeking better jobs and opportunity, as well as our environment.
• Create 50,000 stepping-stone jobs in the new energy economy. As part of his plan to end poverty in America, Edwards called for the creation of government-subsidized stepping stone jobs that give people with barriers to employment a chance to learn new skills and work their way up. Edwards would dedicate 50,000 of these jobs to companies involved in the new energy economy.
• Use grant funding to encourage partnerships between states, businesses, labor unions, community groups and educators to train these workers – so that workers actually get the skills and training that businesses need.
• Provide grant funding to community colleges to partner with companies involved in the new energy economy to develop job training programs specifically tailored to meet needs of this growing industry.
• Ensure that high school students are prepared for jobs in the new energy economy. Edwards would create Green Career Academies -- small learning communities within high schools that use a college preparatory curriculum with a career theme and engage employers, unions, and local colleges to participate.

Click here for a fact sheet on Senator Edwards' initiative.