Thanks to a grant by the Department of Labor’s Green Jobs Innovation Fund, the Finishing Trades Institute of the Mid-Atlantic Regions (FTI) is pushing more people toward green construction jobs with their new training program. The Tri-Green Pre-Apprenticeship Program, which was awarded $5.6 million dollars this month, provides participants with not only 10 units of college credit but the hard skills necessary to enter the field. By the time participants finish the one month program they hold knowledge of green construction practices and health and safety knowledge needed on a job site, as well as the industry-recognized certificates to back them. The program will prepare trainees for jobs in construction painting, drywall finishing and glazing. Read more...

PALO ALTO-- With a $465 million loan package coming down the pipeline from the U.S. Department Of Energy, Tesla Motors is getting ready to step up their game from a limited production run of electric roadsters for rich silicon valley types and eco-conscious Hollywood celebs to something more robust.

How much more robust?

On the order of 1,600 new jobs in the Bay Area. Tesla can add "recession fighting" alongside "swift, silent, and sexy" to the Tesla roadster's list of fine qualities.

[Gas2 via SFist]

With Van Jones' recent resignation as President Obama's Special Advisor for Green Jobs, we need new leaders in the environmental field more than ever. Environmental legislation is being passed (such as San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's law for mandatory composting) and concern about global warming is heightening. The call is being heard for emerging leaders, scientists, and activists in this field, and Oakland Technical High School is answering with their new Green Academy.

Use the audio player to listen to the whole story!

Photo: Public Domain.

 Previously:

This week former White House advisor Van Jones explained in a letter to his supporters what they can do to further the cause of developing green jobs in the wake of his resignation from the Obama administration under pressure from conservatives like Glenn Beck. In the letter Jones called upon his supporters to "Spread the green jobs gospel. The ideas and ideals of the green jobs movement are grounded in fundamental American values - innovation, entrepreneurship and equal opportunity."

One of his supporters is our own Ahmina James...

When I turned to channel seven to watch the eleven o’clock news I got the worst news in my life. Van Jones was resigning from the White House as the green jobs coordinator. I wanted to cry, but at the same time I couldn’t believe that this was happening. This was so important to me because Van Jones has always been my hero and has inspired me to be an environmentalist. I even wrote a KQED Perspective on how much he inspires me.

I admire his work and dedication to solving America’s problems: creating jobs, boosting the economy, and protecting the environment. He explains all of these things in his book. I had the thrill of reading about the green collar economy and his work with the Ella Baker Center. I think what frustrated me most is the reason why he is resigning. I think that it is stupid that he can’t do his job because of distractions from what other people say. I just hope that Jones will continue his work advocating for green jobs at the grassroots level and that he will succeed.

The recent 500 million dollar investment in green jobs training by the Department of Labor sounds like good news in a bad job market. But as the money slowly trickles in from Washington, the question remains: who will get a piece of the green jobs pie? Youth Radio L.A.'s David Dominguez reports on prospective green collar workers on both ends of the age spectrum.

Bruce Cox is a carpenter whose work as a community builder is the never-ending construction job. Cox, a native son of Oakland, Ca, takes pride in giving the idle youth of the East Bay port city something to put their hands on.