Van Jones, Founder and President of Green For All was featured last month as our Eco-Leader. He received many wonderful questions from our web community and has provided a select number of responses.  Please read on to see if your question was answered and to learn more about Green for All.

Question from T.H. Cozell: How can your organization assist me in creating green collar jobs for at-risk fathers and fathers who are leaving incarceration? Thanks.

Answer: At this stage, I would just invite you to join our organization online at GreenForAll.org. In 2009, we will be creating a special program area for what we call “green prison re-entry.” We want to create a network of groups that are trying to do what you suggest. But we are not ready yet. Keep in touch with us about it, though. It is one of the most important things we can do.

Question from Bridget M: How can a community that survives as a tourist destination attract more green tourism when it has a reputation as a "party town" where it's okay to be irresponsible? Here in Key West, FL we are working to create a greener island through grassroots outreach, education and by involving and influencing policymakers. If our business leaders could envision the win/win promise of green tourism, we would be halfway there. Any ideas?

Answer: It sounds like you are doing all the right things. Eco-tourism brings big dollars, and I would reach out to tourism bureaus in places where eco-tourism is taking off to get more guidance and advice. They may have already done more hip or edgy poster advertising that you could “steal” or modify. Your chamber of commerce might want to sponsor a public awareness contest for the best “keep the Keys green” slogan.

Question from Mike K: Is there a program similar to Green For All program started in Chicago and if not, how do you recommend starting one?

Answer: In Chicago, there is an extraordinary program called Green Corps, which teaches people (including people who have recently come home from prison) green skills. There are also organizations called Blacks In Green, Chicagoland Green-Collar Jobs Initiative, Institute for Community Resource Development and Growing Home. Sadhu Johnson in the mayor’s office is a wonder – a true pioneer in thinking about ways that green economic development can equal work and wealth for vulnerable communities.

Question from Adam T: What inspired you to form Green For All?

Answer: I got tired of going to funerals. I got tired of seeing young people in caskets and gray-haired people sitting up in the pews, crying and weeping over senseless shootings. I got tired of seeing prom photos used in funeral programs. And I decided to do something about it. I want to bring positive opportunities to low-income communities – without hurting the health of our neighborhoods or our planet. I want to see an economy that respects and reveres life.

Question from Irene S: What are some of the biggest challenges you face in reaching your goals of creating pathways out of poverty?

Answer: Well, too many people feel that we already fought a War On Poverty in the 1960s – and that poverty won. So many Americans carry a deep sense of doubt that anything can move the needle, and they don’t believe we could afford the price tag, even if we tried. So there is a big-picture kind of cynicism that we have to overcome. The second challenge is that so many of the rising eco-entrepreneurs are brand-new in business, running brand-new companies and selling brand-new products. They are not thinking about ways that their companies could move a social justice agenda through hiring people with barriers to employment or contracting with minority-owned businesses.

Question from Joe R: Are you finding that there are really companies out there to willing to create and provide the green collar jobs to those who are struggling to find their way out of poverty? 

Answer: There are some brand-new entrepreneurs who are wanting to bake the idea of social uplift into their start-ups. They are more friendly and willing than most green companies that already exist. Most of the green companies like the idea of equal opportunity and social uplift in principle, but they don’t know how to execute  it. So we at Green For All are going to create a special help-desk for businesses that want to use their recruiting and hiring processes as a way to spread opportunity and fight poverty. I am very excited about that.

Question from Alana W: What is your vision for how people will get trained to perform the green collar jobs that are out there and how do you connect those people with the potential employers?

Answer: We already have everything we need. We just need some vision. For instance, we already have community colleges. We already have “prison re-entry” programs to help people transition from jail back to the community and work. We already have vocational schools. We already have public high schools. We already have labor unions, which do tons of jobs training. We have only one problem: few of those institutions are training people for the clean and green jobs of the future. Most are still training people for the old, wasteful pollution-based jobs that are leaving the country anyway. My dream is for states and the federal government to give local institutions the money they need to create “green training tracks” within our existing job-training infrastructure. The money should be conditioned upon those job trainers working closely with green employers, so that we don’t waste money-training people for jobs that do not exist. Our Green Jobs Act of 2007 would be the first step in that direction. You can go to GreenForAll.org, to find out ways to help us get the money allocated.

Question from Steve P: What was the first big milestone that you achieved in your mission that made you feel all of this was possible?

Answer: I just kept trying to develop my ideas and meet more people. I was already running a non-profit that was fighting against excessive incarceration and police violence. So I had my own platform. Starting publicly in 2001, I just kept using the bully pulpit to talk about the need for a green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty. Then around 2005, I got my first significant grant from the Cummings Foundation, through a program officer there named Peter Teague. About that time, I helped to create the Oakland Apollo Alliance and the California Apollo Alliance; these were big clean-energy jobs coalitions. Then in 2007, the Oakland City Council passed a resolution to create a Green Jobs Corps and Congress passed the Green Jobs Act of 2007, which Bush signed into law. I have just refused to give up, each step of the way.

Question from Allen J: What does it really take to get the attention of political leaders and to get them to embrace and support your cause?

Answer: The best way is to become a political leader yourself. More people with fresh ideas and a hunger for changes should run for office. If – like me – you don’t feel that calling, then prepare to work very hard, for potentially a very long time, before you get all the results you want. But a good idea, a good heart and hard work can make a big difference, anywhere. I think the most important thing is to think about what the political leader needs (money, votes, media attention) and show how your great idea can help meet those needs. It helps to be lucky in your timing, too. I am becoming a mature spokesperson on the right issue at the right time, so it is easier for me. But I have been talking about this and working on this for nearly a decade – so I guess I should just say, it only looks easy.


Introduction to Van Jones and Green For All

Van Jones is the founder and president of Green For All whose mission is to help build an inclusive, green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty.  Jones is a tireless advocate, championing green-collar jobs and opportunities for disadvantaged people. He is committed to creating green pathways out of poverty, while greatly expanding the coalition fighting global warming.

Jones has made considerable strides on both the local and national levels to further his efforts to create an inclusive green economy.  In 2007, Mr. Jones helped the City of Oakland pass legislation to develop a Green Job Corps, where city funding is used to train Oakland residents in eco-friendly green-collar jobs.

At the national level, Van worked successfully in 2007 with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis and U.S. Rep. John Tierney to pass the Green Jobs Act of 2007.  This historic legislation focuses on training workers in a clean, green economy and creating pathways out of poverty.
 
Mr. Jones is also a co-founder of a new national coalition that promotes the idea of a national Clean Energy Jobs Corps. This multi-billion-dollar federal initiative would put hundreds of thousands of people to work rewiring and retrofitting the energy infrastructure of the United States.  On October 7th of this year, Mr. Jones’ book "The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix America's Two Biggest Problems" will be released.