Is your man making good use of his time in prison or.....

Is your man making good use of his time in prison or.....

via Prison Talk by marcsbeth on 12/20/09

Is your man a go getter even from prison or is he kinda lazy and prefers cards/domino's,sleeping versus taking classes,etc????? marc is adamantly determined NOT to return to prison!! his day is as follows;he gets up every morning at 4 am to write me.then he has breakfast,does his cleanup detail(his job),if there's money on the phone he calls me then.then he goes to welding class in the morning,masonry class in the afternoon and school in the evening.that's mon-thurs.he says he's determined not to waste time even in prison. he says he's trying to be realistic and realizing what he faces upon release ie,jobs are hard to come by,people's upturned noses,etc etc and he's wanting to learn some skills so he may have a better chance at finding work plus he wants schooling,too. but he said out of a couple thousand inmates only 4 signed up for the masonry course and he says he just thinks it's a shame how so many guys seem not to care at all about improving their lives and since he's been at the prison he's at he's seen so many guys leave and come back and he gets so disgusted cause he says they act like they don't even care. they come walking back in clapping each other on the back etc and he just thinks it's ridiculous.for me personally,if i had a man who was adamantly saying he wants to change his life yet wasn't taking any steps to do just that,i'd have a hard time believing him. so,what's your man like??? does he willingly participate in anything that could help him or do you have to push him??!! Ironically,i think the best thing marc did in prison is get counseling. that really seemed to help him and our relationship as he's learned some really good communication skills!!(my favorite being,"beth you have the right to feel any way you want to feel....") that's very calming to me if i'm upset about something!! anyway,not bragging or anything but i really am proud of my man's efforts to improve himself!!

Posted via email from the Un-Official Southwestern PA Re-Entry Coalition Blog

2011 Budget Blues: Texas Dpt of Criminal Justice

2011 Budget Blues: Close prison units to shave 2.5% at TDCJ

via Grits for Breakfast by Gritsforbreakfast on 12/20/09

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst says Texas state agencies must reduce their budgets by 2.5% in each of the next four years to account for declining tax revenues, Jason Embry at the Austin Statesman reports ("Legislative leaders eye spending cuts to deal with looming budget hole," Dec. 20), providing an excellent short summary of the underlying source of the state's budget woes:

As compared with a year earlier, sales tax collections were down 14.4 percent in November, and those kinds of returns have hastened budget-cutting talk. But what's really driving the conversation is a decision that lawmakers made in wealthier times to put property tax cuts at the top of the state's permanent priority list.

In 2006, facing an order from the Texas Supreme Court, lawmakers passed a one-third reduction in school property taxes for operations, committing the state to spend $7.1 billion every year to hold those taxes down. But the tax increases that lawmakers passed at the same time to replace that money — most notably a revamped business tax — produce less than $3 billion per year.

So every two years, the state has to pull more than $8 billion away from other priorities, such as public schools, universities or prisons, to pay the rest of the cost of property tax cuts. Doing so wasn't too difficult when the state had surpluses, but now that they're gone, the property tax cuts threaten to eat up any revenue growth the state sees, even though many homeowners never saw much of a decrease in their tax bills.

To meet the state's commitment to hold down property taxes, to pay for an increasing number of people enrolling in public schools and colleges and joining Medicaid rolls and to replace the stimulus dollars used to pay for the current budget, lawmakers in 2011 might have to come up with $15 billion or more to balance the budget, which now totals $182 billion over two years.

That's a daunting number, but Dewhurst said he is convinced the state can close that gap without severe cuts in state services.

At the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, a 2.5% cut would amount to more than $125 million over the biennium. In years past, TDCJ's institutional division (which runs the state's 112 prison units) has been shielded from budget cuts, meaning that in 2003, when agencies were last cut to the bone, the only thing available to slash were treatment dollars.

I hope Texas officials won't make the same mistake in 2011. Instead, by investing more in diversion strategies and expanding on successes from the 2007 probation reforms, the state could actually close one or two prison units - as we've seen in other states - and use those employees to bring other facilities up to adequate staffing.

There are two ways to think about which prison units to cut: "Which units are most expensive?," and "Which units are most difficult to staff?"

If you're talking about the most expensive units, those are mostly TDCJ's older facilities which tend to have higher costs-per-prisoner. (See this post analyzing data on TDCJ unit age and cost.)

If you're talking about those where understaffing is chronic, you'd start in Dalhart, where TDCJ wages and working conditions don't favorably compete with factory farming of hogs or a nascent dairy and cheese-making industry that's cropped up there in the last decade.

There could also be political considerations. The local chamber-of-commerce crowd in Fort Bend County outside of Houston want a prison unit closed because it sits on land that has become increasingly valuable as the city of Sugarland has expanded and an airport was placed near the area. During the Sunset process last year, they were turned down when they suggested TDCJ close the unit and build a new one somewhere else. Perhaps they'd have more success during a budget crunch arguing the unit there should be eliminated outright.

In any event, to avoid massive new prison building in the future it's important that the state not limit budget cuts at TDCJ to probation, treatment and diversion programming, but instead "spread the pain" or even limit it to the institutional division, where they're still short 1,000 guards and could close units without necessarily eliminating jobs.

Now's the time to be thinking about alternative budget solutions because when the Lege session starts a year from now, demands for slashing 9-figure amounts from the budget could be quite immediate.

Posted via email from the Un-Official Southwestern PA Re-Entry Coalition Blog

Notable prediction that prison population may decline in 2009

Notable prediction that prison population may decline in 2009

via Sentencing Law and Policy by Doug B. on 12/20/09

This AP article speculates, perhaps accurately, that the total US prison population may decline in 2009 for the first time in decades.  Here are the details from the article:

The United States may soon see its prison population drop for the first time in almost four decades, a milestone in a nation that locks up more people than any other.

The inmate population has risen steadily since the early 1970s as states adopted get-tough policies that sent more people to prison and kept them there longer. But tight budgets now have states rethinking these policies and the costs that come with them....

The U.S. prison population dropped steadily during most of the 1960s, and there were a few small dips in 1970 and 1972. But it has risen every year since, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics....

In the past, prison populations have been lower when drafts were enacted, including during World War II and the wars in Korea and Vietnam. "People who go to war are young men, and young men are the most likely to get arrested or prosecuted," said James Austin, president of the JFA Institute, a research organization that advises states on prison issues. The ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan haven't involved in a draft.

Instead, the economic crisis forced states to reconsider who they put behind bars and how long they kept them there, said Kim English, research director for the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice.

In Texas, parole rates were once among the lowest in the nation, with as few as 15 percent of inmates being granted release as recently as five years ago. Now, the parole rate is more than 30 percent after Texas began identifying low-risk candidates for parole.

In Mississippi, a truth-in-sentencing law required drug offenders to serve 85 percent of their sentences. That's been reduced to less than 25 percent.

California's budget problems are expected to result in the release of 37,000 inmates in the next two years. The state also is under a federal court order to shed 40,000 inmates because its prisons are so overcrowded that they are no longer constitutional, Austin said.

States also are looking at ways to keep people from ever entering prison. A nationwide system of drug courts takes first-time felony offenders caught with less than a gram of illegal drugs and sets up a monitoring team to help with case management and therapy....

The reforms in many state prisons and courts come even as crime rates continue to drop nationwide. "It's economically driven, but the science is there to support it," Austin said. "They are saving money, but not doing it in a way that jeopardizes public safety." One exception to the trend is Florida, which has enacted a law requiring all convicts to serve a high percentage of their sentences. The law is straining the state's prison resources. "They know that they are stuck in a time bomb they can't get out of," Austin said.

Posted via email from the Un-Official Southwestern PA Re-Entry Coalition Blog

The Blizzard Of 2009 In Time Lapse!

The Blizzard Of 2009 In Time Lapse!

via Gothamist by Ben Muessig on 12/20/09

You've already seen photos of last night's blizzard and read news accounts about the snowstorm — but now you can watch it in time-lapse photography! This neat video from controlgeek shows snow accumulating in Brooklyn with a single image every thirty seconds from yesterday afternoon through this morning.

Posted via email from jimuleda's posterous

Program Assistant Position

THANKS, NNEKA.
j/r

Program to Aid Citizen Enterprise
Position Description

Program to Aid Citizen Enterprise (PACE) is a 41 year old nonprofit organization with a mission to strengthen the community-based nonprofit organizations that potentially or demonstrably can assist African American and economically disadvantaged communities to identify their needs and take effective action.

PACE does not discriminate in practices or employment opportunities on the basis of an individual’s race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, disability. Or any other proscribed category set forth in federal or state regulations.

Position:               Program Assistant

Responsible to: Executive Director (on an interim basis)

Responsibility: In this entry level position, the Program Assistant will provide support to the Executive Director and the Program Director in the management of the capacity building programs, consulting, and research and in the execution of meetings and public events.

Qualifications: A Bachelor’s Degree in business administration, social work, public policy or other related fields and 1 to 2 years work experience in an office setting is required.  Candidate should have demonstrated interest in providing support to community-based nonprofit organizations serving the African American and disadvantaged communities in greater Pittsburgh.  Good to excellent skills using office software including, but not limited to, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access.  Candidate must have good written, oral communication, people and critical thinking skills and must possess an understanding of the critical importance of client confidentiality and discretion. Position requires an ability to work independently and some evening and weekend work.
Duties:

1.      Assist in the management of program participant selection processes including, orientation of panelists, informational sessions for potential applicants, collecting and assembling applications, scheduling oral interviews, organizing panel day activities, calculating resultant scores and recording panel comments

2.      Assists in program management including coordinating execution of grant contracts, scheduling assessments, arranging program orientations and group and individual training, monitoring grants, managing program files and the collection and assembly of program reporting and evaluative materials

3.      Conducts research and prepares reports as directed

4.      Assists in research, meeting preparation, recording of proceedings and report preparation for consulting projects

5.      Responds to inquiries from applicants, program participants and the general public

6.      Assists in the development of client invoices and project evaluations

7.      Builds strong positive relationships with program participants and clients leading to increased participation and expanded/increased projects

8.      Continued awareness of the external climate affecting the nonprofit sector in general and our constituents directly

9.      Attends meetings, conferences and functions, as requested, on behalf of PACE

10.     All other duties as assigned by the Executive Director

Other:
Candidate should have a team orientation and be able to work collegially and effectively in a small office environment and with collaborating partner organizations.  Candidate should be inquisitive, creative, mature and interested in a career in nonprofit management.

Please send a cover letter, resume and salary history to:

Lucille E. Dabney
Executive Director
Program to Aid Citizen Enterprise
One Gateway Center, Suite 500
420 Fort Duquesne Blvd.
Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Open until January 4, 2009

Posted via email from the Un-Official Southwestern PA Re-Entry Coalition Blog

CHRISTMAS DINNER AT NO-COST!

Thanks, Amber!
j/r
        
FREE CHRISTMAS DINNER
                                       

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Please share with the participants(or someone in NEED)that we have FREE DINNERS for Christmas Day
at ONE OF THESE THREE(3) Locations:

Westin Convention Center
1000 Penn Ave
11:00am - 2:00pm

OR

Omni William Penn                       
11:00am - 2:00pm                               
525 William Penn Place   

OR      

Sheraton Station Square
7 Station Square Dr
11:00am - 2:00pm

The dinners are FREE and the participants must select one of the three places and can bring guests.

Here is what is needed from the participants:

•       Name (Last and First)  
•       Date of Birth 
•       Address
•       City, St Zip Code
•       Telephone #
•       Family Size
•       Choice of hotel and Number of tickets needed

The participant(s) should contact Ms Donna Hurst @ 412) 325-3926 with the above information and pick up the ticket(s)
AT 610 Wood Street - 3rd floor, from Ms Hurst, as directed!

The Last Day to pick up the tickets is Wednesday December 23, 2009 between 9:00am - - 12:00 (noon)
  
Rodney D. Brown Sr.
Project Director, Mature Workers Program
Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh
610 Wood Street - 3rd Floor
Pittsburgh, PA 15222 Phone:
( 412) 325-3927

Posted via email from the Un-Official Southwestern PA Re-Entry Coalition Blog

2010 Summer Youth Philanthropy Internship Applications Available

Good Morning Everyone,

Could you please pass on this information to your members?

Have a safe and happy holiday season!

:) Amber Farr

2010 Summer Youth Philanthropy Internship Applications Available

Recognizing the need to incorporate a youth perspective in its grant making, The Heinz Endowments will again employ recent high school graduates as youth philanthropy interns. An electronic application may be found HERE<http://www.heinz.org/UserFiles/File/2010SummerInterns/Application%20Final2.pdf>. Please note that the application is an interactive PDF file that opens with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. When complete, clicking "submit" will generate an e-mail that allows for electronic submission. The required letter of recommendation form may be found HERE<http://www.heinz.org/UserFiles/File/2010SummerInterns/Letter%20of%20recommendation.pdf>.

Applications for the internship are due Friday, Feb. 26. Interested applicants are encouraged to watch a brief video about the program, available HERE<http://www.heinz.org/userfiles/library/heinz_internship_640x480.wmv>. A recap of the 2009 program is available HERE<http://www.heinz.org/programs_cms.aspx?SectionID=270>.

Two information sessions will be held for applicants at the Endowments' office at 625 Liberty Avenue, downtown, from 4 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 7, and Thursday, Feb. 4. Students interested in attending should RSVP to Linda Hall at (412) 338-2615. Attendance at an information session is not required, but past interns have found it to be helpful.

Now more than a decade old, the internship program will again provide youth with an opportunity to work to improve their region by developing and implementing a youth philanthropy project. The interns will research issues affecting youth and the environment in their communities, identify service priorities, develop funding guidelines and award charitable grants. In addition, students will learn about communications and media, completing video and podcast documentaries related to their work. Although the final number of internships available is still to be determined, each team will again award $25,000 in grants. Please e-mail Wayne Jones<mailto:wjones@heinz.org?subject=2010%20Summer%20Youth%20Philanthropy%20Internship%20Application> with any questions.
http://www.heinz.org/programs_cms.aspx?SectionID=2&ParentID=168

Posted via email from the Un-Official Southwestern PA Re-Entry Coalition Blog

"Welcome to Obama-ville" Sign at Colorado Tent City

"Welcome to Obama-ville" Sign at Colorado Tent City

via Change.org's End Homelessness Blog by Shannon Moriarty on 12/15/09

Last week, a mysterious sign appeared outside a Colorado tent city. It read, "Welcome to Obama-ville: Colorado's Fastest Growing Community." This simple sign prompted investigative news reports and a flurry of response from Colorado residents, wondering who created and paid for the sign.

Funny how a few words on a banner can get a rise out of people. But the people living in a tent city behind the sign? Well, they don't seem to shock us anymore.

KRDO News Channel 13 in Colorado Springs first spotted the sign in the woods off a highway on-ramp. Immediately, they launched an investigative report to identify the mysterious maker of the sign. This report generated a flurry of response. Some chided the misuse of money to create the sign, while others took issue with the political jab at Obama. Colorado's conservative media outlets whined about the lack of media attention being given to Colorado's tent city, and wondered if the sign read "Bush-ville" it would have the opposite effect.

All this banter about a sign in front of tent city. But the real question is this: would we be talking about this tent city in Colorado Springs if this sign was never there in the first place? Probably not.

Shame on us for not generating the same level of curiosity and concern about the people living in the tent city behind the sign as we have about this sign. Shame on us for politicizing homelessness and try and attribute it to any one person. Homelessness is the result of years of failed policies and whack priorities, for which people of all parties can be blamed.

If the goal of this sign was to get people talking, it has clearly worked. But don't let the sign in front of the homeless camp distract you from the real issues - the tough issues - that are manifested right behind the chain link fence. Who are these people? How did they end up homeless? Why aren't they staying in a shelter? What obstacles are preventing them from getting off the streets and into housing? These are the questions we really need to learn the answers to (perhaps through an investigative report?).

This story has an ending. Following the media flurry, the controversial "Obama-ville" sign was removed. It was replaced with another sign that reads: "Please Help: We Need Firewood, Propane, and Canned Food." Sadly, this message hasn't generated the same amount of outrage as the previous sign. It just doesn't seem to have much of a shock value.

Maybe our reaction to these signs say a lot more than the signs themselves.

Image & Video: KRDO

Posted via email from jimuleda's posterous

The Wire’s Other 100 Greatest Quotes.

The Wire’s Other 100 Greatest Quotes. (Massive Spoilers.)

via PostBourgie by G.D. on 12/15/09

The homie Jeremy Levine at Social Science Lite just hipped me to this video, which includes a lot of the moments many people thought were omitted in the first montage.

Posted via email from jimuleda's posterous

Prisons and Public Safety: Learning from the "Gitmo North" debate

Prisons and Public Safety: Learning from the "Gitmo North" debate

via Governing through Crime by Jonathan Simon on 12/16/09

President Obama's announcement that the federal government will buy a mothballed supermax prison in northern Illinois (the fact that the such a facility was empty is itself an intriguing signal that the war on crime is drawing down) is bringing a new wave of criticism (mostly from Republicans) that this endangers public safety. As Helene Cooper and David Johnston, reporting in the NYTimes, summarize the thrust of concern:

“The administration has failed to explain how transferring terrorists to Gitmo North will make Americans safer than keeping terrorists off of our shores in the secure facility in Cuba,” Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate Republican leader, said in a statement. Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader, told reporters he would not vote to “spend one dime to move those prisoners to the U.S.”

The upcoming debate is unlikely to be inspiring, but it will be revealing of two features of contemporary American political culture that have helped sustain mass incarceration.

1. Prisons are never enough to make us feel safe. We want them and gated communities. Even when we have a supermax prison it would be much better if those prisons that are separated by water and national borders. Now its true that the fear being expressed is not simply of the super terrorists themselves (who will apparently have a virtually 1:1 ratio with guards), but their colleagues who may decide to retaliate against ordinary Americans. But that "logic" does not hold up. What stops the terrorists now from retaliating against "ordinary Americans" by blowing up strip malls in northern Illinois or northern Kentucky for that matter? What is being expressed here instead is the profound influence of the "container" metaphor turned toward its carceral core.

2. Congress, whichever party is in or out of power, finds it very hard to be on the side of providing less protection to Americans against criminal violence of any kind. I argued in Governing through Crime, that Congress (and state legislatures) now find it natural to view themselves as representing American crime victims as the idealized citizens of the Republic. I predict plenty of Democrats will join with Republicans to block any actual transfer of prisoners.

If the Republicans get away with spinning this as Obama making ordinary Americans vulnerable in order to please liberal cosmopolitan elites (mostly in Europe), they will have effectively reprised the Nixon v. Ramsey Clark moves of 1968, despite a period of declining crime and rising environmental threat.

Posted via email from the Un-Official Southwestern PA Re-Entry Coalition Blog

NY: A Brutal Failure of a Juvenile Injustice System

NY: A Brutal Failure of a Juvenile Injustice System

via TalkLeft by Jeralyn on 12/16/09

The release of this draft report (pdf)on New York's juvenile justice system should be eye-opening. To call the system failed, horrific and beyond the pale of acceptable policy doesn't begin to describe it.

The New York Times reports here.

The report, prepared by a task force appointed by Gov. David A. Paterson and led by Jeremy Travis, president of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, comes three months after a federal investigation found that excessive force was routinely used at four prisons, resulting in injuries as severe as broken bones and shattered teeth. The situation was so serious the Department of Justice, which made the investigation, threatened to take over the system.

The financial aspect is also absurd: New York is spending $210,000 per child to keep these juveniles, more than 50 % of whom were sentenced for misdemeanors, locked up. And,

More than 80 percent were black or Latino, even though blacks and Latinos make up less than half the state’s total youth population — a racial disparity that has never been explained, the report said.

This is a system in crisis, and New York needs to address it -- sooner, rather than later.

Posted via email from the Un-Official Southwestern PA Re-Entry Coalition Blog

What Matters Now: get the free ebook

What Matters Now: get the free ebook

via Seth's Blog by Seth Godin on 12/14/09

Now, more than ever, we need to shake things up.

Now, more than ever, we need a different way of thinking, a useful way to focus and the energy to turn the game around. I hope a new ebook I've organized will get you started on that path. It took months, but I think you'll find it worth it the effort. (Download here).

Here are more than seventy big thinkers, each sharing an idea for you to think about as we head into the new year. From bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert to brilliant tech thinker Kevin Kelly, from publisher Tim O'Reilly to radio host Dave Ramsey, there are some important people riffing about important ideas here. The ebook includes Tom Peters, Jackie Huba and Jason Fried, along with Gina Trapani, Bill Taylor and Alan Webber.

Here's the deal: it's free. Download it here. Or from any of the many sites around the web that are posting it with insightful commentary. Tweet it, email it, post it on your own site. I think it might be fun to make up your own riff and post it on your blog or online profile as well. It's a good exercise. Can we get this in the hands of 5 million people? You can find an easy to use version on Scribd as well and from wepapers. Please share.

Have fun. Here's to a year with ideas even bigger than these.

Here's a lens with all the links plus an astonishing array of books by our authors.

Posted via email from the Un-Official Southwestern PA Re-Entry Coalition Blog

Green Collar Jobs-1

What Is a Green-Collar Job, Exactly?

By Bryan Walsh

What do presidential candidates John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have in common — aside from the obvious? They all love green-collar jobs. Obama promises to spend $150 billion over 10 years to create 5 million new green-collar jobs. Clinton references the term repeatedly on the trail, and says her energy plan will create millions of new green-collar jobs as well. McCain is less willing to cite numbers, but he too assures campaign audiences that action to de-carbonize America's economy will produce "thousands, millions of new jobs in America."

All of which sounds great — we clean up the environment, control global warming and create an entirely new sector of employment while we're at it. Academics have released lots of studies trumpeting the potential for green jobs — one report by the RAND Corporation and University of Tennessee found that if 25% of all American energy were produced from renewable sources by 2025, we would generate at least 5 million new green jobs. But there are just a few questions: what is green-collar? What makes it different from blue- or white-collar? And where will those jobs come from?

Phil Angelides has the answers — or at least one of them. A venture capitalist and the 2006 Democratic candidate for governor of California (he lost to the political world's best-known Austrian-American), Angelides is the chair of the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of business, labor and environmental groups championing green employment. Here's how he defines a green job: "It has to pay decent wages and benefits that can support a family. It has to be part of a real career path, with upward mobility. And it needs to reduce waste and pollution and benefit the environment." (Hear Angelides discuss the green-collar revolution on this week's Greencast.)

Sounds simple enough. And there are some jobs that fall obviously into the green-collar category, like the hundreds of employees who now work for the Spanish wind company Gamesa at its new plant in Fairless Hills, Pa. — a plant built on the site of an old U.S. Steel manufacturing facility. If you make wind turbines or solar panels, your job is reliably green. But Angelides and his allies want to cast a wider net. To them, a green-collar job can be anything that helps put America on the path to a cleaner, more energy efficient future. That means jobs in the public transit sector, jobs in green building, jobs in energy efficiency — even traditional, blue-collar manufacturing jobs, provided what you're making is more or less green. (Building an SUV? Blue-collar. Building a hybrid? Green-collar.) The category can get a little messy. "You don't want to green-wash," says Angelides. "You don't want to call something a green-collar job that doesn't have the wages or background to support it."

But there can be a strong temptation towards what might be called green-collar inflation, because the idea that environmentalism can actually add jobs is key to the new arguments for global warming action. On the surface, cap and trade and other anti–climate change policies look like short-term economic losers that will raise the cost of energy and lead to job loss. Certainly that's the argument of many conservatives — a study by the National Association of Manufacturers estimated that one of the main carbon cap-and-trade proposals before Congress would cost the U.S. economy up to 4 million jobs by 2030.

But environmental groups like the Apollo Alliance flip that criticism around, arguing that the hard work of de-carbonizing the American economy will actually create millions of new jobs. Someone, after all, will need to produce alternative power, increase energy efficiency and overhaul wasteful buildings. Angelides notes that between now and 2030, 75% of the buildings in the U.S. will either be new or substantially rehabilitated. Our inefficient, dangerously unstable electrical grid will need to be overhauled. The jobs that will go into that kind of work can be green-collar — provided that the government adopts the kind of policies that incentivize environmentally friendly choices. "Green jobs won't be sprouting up only in new technology fields" like solar energy, says Angelides, whose group is calling for a $300 billion investment in green jobs over the next 10 years. "We'll be creating jobs in the industrial sector."

In other words, blue-collar can become green. It's no surprise that one of the biggest supporters of the Apollo Alliance is the United Steelworkers Alliance — labor leaders see green jobs as a way to fight outsourcing and keep manufacturing alive in America. And there is a strong political component to green-collar jobs, which is why presidential candidates love talking about them so much. Environmentalism has usually been the reserve of the elite — but we'll never have the power to tackle global warming unless we create a coalition that extends well beyond traditional white-collar greens. Touting green-collar jobs can convince skeptical, blue-collar Americans that they have an economic stake in curbing climate change. It's far from certain that green-collar jobs will ever reach the critical mass that supporters like Angelides hope, but any idea that can bring Obama, McCain and Clinton together can't be all bad — and it may help bring the rest of us together too.

Posted via email from the Un-Official Southwestern PA Re-Entry Coalition Blog

Green Collar Jobs-2

The Hidden Green Job Market

Green jobs can be found in a number of areas in addition to online job boards.  In some instances employers may not publicize a job opportunity via a traditional online job board for reasons such as time (for example, the company may not be able to invest the internal human resources needed to review a large number of applicants that could arise with a broad-based posting) or capacity (for example, a young company may not have a complete human resources department). Some of the other sources and strategies to locate green jobs include:

1.) Go Direct

Some companies may publish job listings on their website, but not necessarily conduct additional external recruitment for candidates.  To access these opportunities job seekers should identify companies they would be interested in working for and review the Jobs or Careers section of their website for potential jobs. Strategies to identify companies include:

• Reviewing membership lists or other resources from relevant industry associations.  For example, the American Solar Energy Society provides this list of employers.  A list of some industry associations is available on Green Collar Blog.
• Reviewing the list of exhibitors or presenters at industry conferences. For example, there were more than 400 organizations at this week's Intersolar conference,
• Reviewing relevant industry publications (for example, Sustainable Industries).  These publications may contain news stories mentioning potential employers.  Examining the companies who advertise in such publications may also be valuable.
• Reviewing national or local lists and directories of green businesses (such as the Bay Area Green Business Program and the National Green Pages).

2.) Networking

Networking can enable job seekers to learn about job opportunities.  There are a vast number of approaches and strategies for networking, including attending events by organizations such as EcoTuesday and GreenDrinks, participating in the local chapter of a national organization such as the American Solar Energy Society, or attending programs or conferences such as the Green Festival.  There are also internet-based approaches to networking (see point #3). Due to the importance of networking to a successful job search it will be the focus of a future article on Green Collar Blog.

3.) Online Social Media

There are an increasing number of job opportunities posted via online social media channels.  For example, all groups on the professional networking site LinkedIn include a "Jobs" tab where job opportunities can be posted.  Company representatives (including hiring managers) may use social media to conduct their own outreach for potential candidates.  For example, the Green Jobs and Career Network group on LinkedIn currently contains more than 50 job postings in various locations.

4.) E-mail Lists

There are a number of specialized e-mail lists that distribute job postings.  A number of these list are free for job seekers to join, including EnviJobs, Green Job List, and YNPN.

5.) Recruiters

As with job boards, there are an increasing number of recruiters that focus on careers pertaining to sustainability.  A number of these organizations will post positions for which they are currently seeking candidates (two examples are Commongood Careers and Bright Green Talent).  A list of some green recruiters is available on Green Collar Blog.

6.) Membership Organizations

Industry associations and other membership-based organizations can offer job postings among their member services.  For example, Net Impact, a national organization that focuses on harnessing the power of business for social good, has an extensive set of career services (including a job board and resume tips) as well as an annual career expo.

7.) Academic Institutions

Academic institutions offer a range of job-related resources for their students and graduates.  These include access to job listings and job fairs.  For example, Stanford University will be holding an Energy & Environmental Career Fair in October and this page on Green Collar Blog lists recent green career fairs held by institutions including the University of Illinois and University of Minnesota.  Academic institutions can also be a source of networking opportunities.

In addition to finding current job opportunities, there are some approaches for identifying future green jobs.  This will be the focus of part three of this series.

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Green Collar Jobs-3

Future Green Jobs

1.) Follow the Money

One method to identify potential future green jobs is to identify where investments are being made today.  This can be a productive strategy as these investments may lead to the development of new enterprises that have jobs. Specific approaches include:

• Identifying private sector investment.  Venture capital firms, private equity firms, and corporations are all making significant investments in existing or new enterprises in the green sector.  The recipients of these investment may be sources of future (or even current) job opportunities.  Sources to learn about these investments include The Cleantech Group, Earth2Tech, GreenBeat, Greentech Media, and Green VC.
• Identify public sector investment.  As with the private sector, the public sector is investing in the green sector and the recipients of these investment may also be sources of current or future job opportunities.  Sources to learn about these investments include the ones mentioned above as well as directly reviewing government websites such as the U.S. Department of Energy.

2.) Follow the Law

A second method to identify potential future green jobs is to identify federal, state, or local legislative, judicial, or regulatory changes that impact the green economic sector.  Government action can include providing funds for new initiatives (such as the approximately $8 billion in expanded funding for weatherization in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) that can lead to new employment opportunities or rules that may lead to new business opportunities.  Sources for identifying these legal developments include those mentioned above as well as organizations such as the Apollo Alliance and Green For All.

3.) Follow the Startups

New enterprises can be a source for potential future job opportunities.  Some strategies for identifying these are:

• Green and Social Venture Business Plan Competitions.  These programs are organized by business schools and other organizations and are generally geared to ventures that are at an early stage in their development. These include programs such as the Clean Tech Open and the Global Social Venture Competition.  Job seekers can review the list of entrants and winners of these competitions as potential future sources of jobs.  In addition, job seekers may consider entering a competition or joining the team of an entrant (some of these competitions offer mixers to facilitate team recruitment).  A list of some of these competitions is available on Green VC.
• Green and Social Entreprenuership Awards and Fellowships.  These program vary and include cash prizes for one-time contests, seed funding for new ventures, and later-stage funding for existing organizations.  These include programs such as Echoing Green and the Skoll Award for Social Entreprenuership.  As with business plan competitions, job seekers can review the list of winners of these programs as potential future sources of jobs.  A list of some of these programs is available on Green VC.

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Resume Right?

By Kathy Sweeney, NCRW, CPRW, CEIC, CCM - The Write Resume
November 18, 2009 at 12:03 pm

Nick, you know I love you, but I am going to disagree with you! :-)

A specific manager needs to determine whether the person has the skill set to perform the job, and the accomplishments to back it up, as well.

The “what you are going to do for him / her” can be written in different areas of the resume.

A candidate could have a separate “selected achievements” or “core expertise” section which include quantifiable results near the top, achievements under each position, or expertise combined with quantifiable achievements in the profile.

Each candidate is different and there should never be a broad-brush approach to writing resumes.

A great resume will be a fantastic representative of both skills that a client possesses and the results of those daily duties.

Employers want to know either one or both of these things – can you make them or save them money. Everything drills down to the bottom line.

If a candidate were approaching a specific manager and wanted to highlight certain areas of expertise, then I would recommend a leadership addenda, in addition to the resume. This document would focus, in greater detail, on key projects or programs that directly relate to the specific company needs.

I would also recommend a highly targeted cover letter to sell the employer on the contributions a job seeker can make to that specific company.

Or, in Karsten’s case, he could identify the company’s issue through research, and formulate a list of areas where he can contribute and results of previous projects related to the information he uncovers through his due diligence. This way, he is fully prepared to make phone calls and not forget or stumble over his talking points.

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Questions/Responses

Discussion: December 8, 2009 Ask The Headhunter Newsletter

The Q&A column in this week’s newsletter asks whether employers are too hell-bent on hiring only “the perfect candidate,” when ability and talent might be the more efficient path to getting a job done. How long will a manager wait until perfection arrives?

Do employers really want only someone who has already done the exact job? Am I nuts, or is there something wrong here? Do credentials matter more than ability to ride a learning curve and come up to speed?

(Oops! Maybe ability is harder to assess than credentials, eh?)

How can you get an employer to hire you, if you haven’t already done the exact job?

A response:

By Maurreen Skowran
December 8, 2009 at 10:45 am

And while wishing for a boatload of experience, some employers want to pay thousands of dollars less than what the combination is worth.

I’m also seeing more hybrid jobs, where the employer wants people to do a combination of moderately disparate functions that would normally be done by two to five people.

For employers, consider:

* Probation and informal apprenticeship.

* Contingency plans and back-up workers.

* Referrals and feedback from the last person to hold the job.

* Getting someone with most of what you’re looking for, then sending him to one or more classes.

* Job sharing — Hire a couple of people part-time to do different parts of the job.

* Training someone from within to work the hard-to-fill position, and hiring that person’s replacement from a larger pool.

* More generally, get employee feedback on any ads, etc. How much do your ads or other material do to say “Pick me”? Employers often shoot themselves in the foot with ads that are neutral or worse.

For job seekers, especially career changers:

* Don’t take the expectations or stated requirement as gospel. Sometimes they are, sometimes not. For example, most people in the field I come from have a bachelor’s degree. I have only about a year’s worth of college classes.

* School or other training can be a good way to get your foot in the door, without necessarily completing the degree. Besides the actual learning, you have opportunities for demonstration, connections through the faculty, etc.

* Start small. Do “x” on your own and demonstrate it. Consider volunteering and student jobs. In my first career change, I moved from aviation support in the Marine Corps to journalism. I started at a community college newspaper. My pay was initially zero. My background was minimal. But I got experience and worked up to one of the country’s larger and better newspapers.

* Pay attention and build links from where you are and have been, to where you want to be. My first job at a real newspaper came about because of an article I read in the local weekly paper. The editor was saying goodbye to a couple of people who worked there. I applied for one of those jobs the next day, and I got it.

* Address any perceived holes in your background. You might directly tell the employer, “I know you’re looking for x, but …”

* I’ve also been on the other side of this, where candidates had loose experience relating to the job and what I was looking for. But made little or no effort to target their materials to the position.
If they had revised their resumes to be relevant, I likely would have given them some consideration and kept them in mind for anything more appropriate in the future. But instead, they got “minus points” for not being smart enough to do something fairly basic.

MORE: Readers’ Forum: Ability or credentials?

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Where the Money Comes/Goes.

Which states pay the most in federal taxes and which receive the most in return? Who Gives/Who Receives?

LINK: http://www.visualeconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/tax.jpg

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Does your man have standards about where he'll work?

Does your man have standards about where he'll work?

via Prison Talk by LadyBabyJoker on 12/6/09

So I was talkin to my baby who's comin home in just 3 days about him finding a job when he gets out... I told him I don't care if he's workin at Micky D's flippin burgers for min. wage only 20 hours a week I just want him to have income to help me out with the bills. His response, ABSOLUTELY NO WAY HES WORKIN AT MICKY D'S! I was like what? How can someone with no work history besides prison kitchens, someone with a felony, in an economy like this, let alone right before christmas when all the seasonal help is hired be picky? I'm a little frustrated about it I just want him to help me out and bring in money and I don't care where it is! He only has to work there until he can find something better....

Does anyone else's man have standards like this? How do I approach him and let him know I really just need him to find a job asap not wait around for an amazing place to hire him?

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Oh-Kay

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