Write a letter to support the Oakland Green Jobs Corps!
This is easy and it makes a big difference! This is the most helpful thing you can do if you can't attend the rally or speak at the Council Committee meeting. No matter what, it is always useful to submit your comments in writing for the record.
Your letter will be sent to the Public Works Committee of City Council: Nancy Nadel (chair), Desley Brooks, Henry Chang, and Pat Kernighan.
See below for some talking points you can use in your letter.
Here are some "talking points" that you can include in your letter. It's best if you write your own letter, so we're providing some helpful language to use as a starting point:
Possible Talking Points (feel free to pick and choose and rewrite!):
YOUR IDEAS HERE: The best talking points are the ones that come from your heart and mind and your personal experience!
SEED FUNDING MUST BE AT LEAST $250,000: According to the research and analysis of the Oakland Apollo Alliance, a good job training program serving people with barriers to employment needs at least $750,000 per year to train 40 people and then place them with paid internships. If the City of Oakland can provide just one-third of that budget, $250,000, it immediately creates the potential to find matching funds from other long-term sources. $100,000 just isn't enough to provide meaningful leverage as seed funding.
CREATE LONG-TERM CAPACITY: The Oakland Green Jobs Corps will establish a new, groundbreaking model program that creates long-term capacity to benefit many people and businesses in Oakland. This is a perfect way to utilize some of the Williams Energy Settlement money.
PROVIDE PATHWAYS OUT OF POVERTY: The Oakland Green Jobs Corps will be a groundbreaking model for providing career pathways out of poverty in the growing green economy, doing work like solar panel installation, energy-efficiency construction and retrofits, and jobs related to bio-fuels (car and truck mechanic jobs, production jobs, and fuel-station jobs). It will create meaningful job opportunities and upward mobility for low-income young adults in Oakland.
SUPPORT BUSINESS GROWTH: Workforce development and job training are fundamental to supporting business growth. The Oakland Green Jobs Corps will partner with dozens of small and medium-size green businesses in Oakland and help train up the qualified workforce to support these businesses. This program will help create long-term capacity for green economic development.
MAKE THE ENVIRONMENT RELEVANT FOR MORE PEOPLE: The Oakland Green Jobs Corps will be a powerful bridge between environmental progress and economic development. Job creation is a way to make environmental sustainability a meaningful and relevant part of people's everyday lives.
HELP MAKE OAKLAND A MODEL GREEN CITY: Oakland is already recognized as a "Top 10 Green City," and Mayor Dellums' vision is for Oakland to become a "model, sustainable city." The Oakland Green Jobs Corps is exactly the kind of program that can solidify and advance this city's position as a national leader on sustainability and green economic growth.
