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Projects Updates for Green Jobs

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  1. Update from Eric

    Associated Project(s): 
    Green Jobs

    Below is an update from Eric Green: 

     

    The Green Career Forum was hosted on February 27 this year and had 9 companies and over 100 students in attendance. There is likely to be another event hosted in the Spring of 2025 with the help of the Career Center. 

  2. Illinois Green Economy Network is hiring

    Associated Project(s): 
    Green Jobs

    Hi all,

     

    I’m passing along a job opportunity that may be applicable to graduates of the iSEE Fellows and Environmental Leadership Programs.

     

    The Illinois Green Economy Network is hiring their next Executive Director. IGEN is a consortium of all Illinois community colleges working together to drive growth of the clean energy economy and green workforce.

    This unique approach leverages the power of a sustainability network while utilizing the deep community connections of individual colleges. IGEN provides a platform to expand the deployment of clean energy technologies, increase employment opportunities, improve environmental and human health, foster community engagement and accelerate market competitiveness. More information can be found at this link: https://www.schooljobs.com/careers/heartland/jobs/3968559/executive-director-illinois-green-economy-network-igen

     

    Please share this with your networks and feel free to share in an upcoming iSEE newsletter.

     

    Sincerely,

     

    Stacy Gloss

  3. Resilience iCAP Team September 2022 Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Resilience iCAP Team
    Resilience iCAP Team Recommendations Summary
    Urban Biodiversity Master Plan
    Rainwater Management Plans
    Environmental Justice Plan
    Local Sustainability Issues
    Green Jobs
    Vision Zero
    Develop Local Carbon Offset Program

    The Resilience iCAP Team had its first online meeting of the year on Friday, September 9th from 2:00 - 3:00 PM. The team reviewed the Resilience Charge Letter, talked about ground rules of the team, reviewed seven Resilience iCAP objectives, and shared updates on each objective. Meeting minutes and ground rules documents are attached. 

    Attached Files: 

  5. Sustainability and Green Job Certifications

    Associated Project(s): 
    Build Resilience with Our Local Community
    Green Jobs
    Resilience iCAP Team

    Sustainability & Green Job Certification examples have now been included on the Institute for Energy, Sustainability, and the Environment (iSEE) Education Portal website.  Scroll down on the page to find and review Professional Certification Programs.  This list can be used to inspire and provide insight into green careers. Green Job Certification Topics include: 

    Buildings & Energy

    Environmentalism & Advocacy

    Climate Change and Sustainability Professionals, Business, Reporting

    Water

    Outdoors, Gardening, Wildlife, Natural Resources

    A downloadable Excel file titled "Job Certifications" provides additional detail about these certifications and these careers.

  6. Career Services Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Build Resilience with Our Local Community
    Green Jobs
    Resilience iCAP Team

    Stacy Gloss and Meredith Moore met with Amanda Cox and Samantha Potempa from University Career Services to discuss how to connect students to Green Jobs and Green Job Certifications.  Career Services staff described the services provided for students. Career Services across campus are distributed between the Colleges and students can meet with the central Career Services group or academic & career advisors in the College of their major. Career Services can provide presentations to both classrooms and RSO student groups. Trained peer career advisors can give presentations on interviewing, resume writing, Linked-in profiles and personal statements. A Career Services Council meets on a quarterly basis to discuss current issues and affairs. iSEE can have a representative join the Career Services Council. 

    Additional resources for students include:

  7. Resilience Work Meeting 11/18/21

    Associated Project(s): 
    Build Resilience with Our Local Community
    Develop Local Carbon Offset Program
    Green Jobs
    Resilience iCAP Team

    Stacy Gloss, Meredith Moore, Morgan White, and Scott Tess met to discuss Resilience Team work. 

    We discussed:

    • NGICP presentation scheduled for December 10 with presentations by Heidi Leuzler and Eliana Brown
    • NGICP SSC Step II Application to be submitted 11/19/21
    • Carbon Offset Program development. Discussed that "local" for this objective means within boundaries of Champaign County.  Next questions to answer are: Why, What, How for developing a local carbon offset program.

  8. Green Certifications Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Build Resilience with Our Local Community
    Green Jobs

    11/17/2021

    Present: Tony Mancuso, Meredith Moore, Eric Green, & Stacy Gloss

    A meeting was held to discuss student engagement, green jobs, and career planning.

    Agenda items included: 

    1) Possible potential for interviewing iSEE Fellows Minor Grads about their current careers - involving the communications department.

    2) Possible idea for introducing a mentoring program. The idea is to have iSEE fellows grads who are settled into careers serve as mentors for undergraduate fellows in the minor. A program like this would need to have more intentional development and administrative support.

    3) Getting green jobs certifications information onto the iSEE website under the Education Portal https://sustainability.illinois.edu/education/student-resources/.

    Stacy & Tony will work on this.

  10. Weekly Resilience Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Build Resilience with Our Local Community
    Vision Zero
    Green Jobs
    Rainwater Management

    Resilience Meeting Notes 10/15/2021 for meeting between Stacy Gloss, Meredith Moore, and Morgan White

    1. We discussed ideas for the Design for America RSO project on Environmental Justice.  Stacy will set up a meeting with D for A RSO students to discuss potential project topics and request a 1/2 page - 1 page project idea back to us for approval/revisions. The project might cover an environmental justice topic and be worked on from now through May. We will request that the complete project be designed to be presented in the late Spring, and the results go beyond educational/informational and lead to an initiative of some kind.
    2. Stacy provided a progress update on Resilience iCAP objectives.
      1. Green Certifications Inventory. Stacy will present this for comment at the next resilience ICAP meeting
      2. NGICP exploration
        1. Stacy will submit SSC proposal to support a pilot program for F&S staff to receive NGICP training at Parkland. The project will evaluate the benefits and decide whether to adopt having more or all campus grounds workers take the training later.
        2. Stacy will request Heidi and Eliana present at a (future proposed) joint meeting of the land/water use and resilience committee about the NGICP program and benefits
      3. Coordinated rainwater planning
        1. Morgan said that she recently had a conversation with a director at Sanitary District who asked for campus to become more involved with watershed management through a watershed working group, which is different than MS4 compliance.  
        2. Morgan also requested that Stacy involve Eliana Brown more in coordinated rainwater planning for future meetings
        3. Stacy will attend the stormwater management organization’s conference on Oct. 20.
      4. Sustainability leadership topics – plan for Stacy to present these at next resilience ICAP meeting
      5. Vision Zero Discussion
        1. Stacy will submit a white paper on next steps for Vision Zero on Campus late next week.
        2. Stacy and Sarthak will meet with a professor who supports / advocates for Vision Zero next week. 
        3. We discussed who would need to be involved for approval and planning of a Traffic Garden, Stacy will report back to Sarthak on this subject.

  11. Green Jobs Introduction and Background Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Build Resilience with Our Local Community
    Green Jobs

    10/5/2021

    Present: Stacy Gloss and Eric Green

    Background:

    8.5 [iSEE] By FY23, collaborate with colleges and community groups to inventory existing certification opportunities for green jobs and identify gaps.

      • Review findings from student research about green job opportunities
      • Assist iSEE staff to complete this inventory
        • Deliverable: provide inventory content to iSEE communications team by 1/31/22
        • Deliverable: update iCAP Portal inventory page with link to iSEE page by 3/15/22

    Meeting Notes:

    Stacy and Eric discussed a wide range of topics related to green jobs including the background and tasks related to iSEE 8.5.  Connection was made that Objective 8.5 is linked by category of “green jobs” to:

    iCAP Objective 6.4 - “Develop a sustainability internship program through partnering with businesses, nonprofits, local government, and cultural institutions in Central Illinois. The total number of internships awarded will be reported each year.” The responsible campus unit for championing this objective is iSEE. Progress is tracked in the iCAP Portal project page for the Sustainability Internship Program

    iCAP Objective 6.5 ““Partner with The Career Center and potentially other career offices in FY22 to help students explore and discover career opportunities that are connected to professional interests and goals related to sustainability. Incorporate a sustainability component at a minimum of two events beginning in FY22.” The responsible campus unit for championing this objective is Career Center with the support of iSEE. Progress is tracked in the iCAP Portal project page for Sustainability at Career Fairs.”

    In Spring 2021, Carissa Mysliwiec was as ENVS 491: Campus Sustainability Intern who worked with instructor Eric Green to focus on designing a sustainability internship program as part of Objective 6.4.

    In our discussion we talked about high-level barriers to internship programs:

    • Interns need significant guidance
    • Pay is an issue, who will pay $3,000 - $4,000 for a summer intern?
    • Businesses don’t always identify sustainability needs 

    We also discussed the challenges of identifying green jobs for the purposes of a creating a green-jobs fair or a sustainable jobs fair. What identifies green jobs? This topic should be explored further.  Talk to SECS, perhaps? How are students defining green jobs today?

    During the conversation Stacy pitched an entry-level paid program (post-graduation internship?) to be staffed for 1-2 years by recent graduates to help organizations build capacity, set targets and meet goals. This would be full-time work in lower-level/entry-level positions that serve as a spring board to sustainability careers.

    Stacy presented a Green Certifications Excel document she started working on.  Next steps would be to ask for campus & community input to answer questions such as:  Are these certifications offered here @UIUC or locally?  Who from campus is involved, can be a contact, or serve as a resource? What kind of jobs do people get with the certifications? Who hires locally? How do we prevent locally trained folks from leaving, what incentives are there to stay once advanced certifications are achieved?

    Eric will see if there are any students that might want to do some of the legwork involved in bolstering the green certifications list.

    We'll stay in touch and set up a meeting for about a month from now.

  12. Internships and Volunteer Opportunities to Protect the Environment

    Associated Project(s): 
    Green Jobs
    Carbon-Neutral Energy for Campus

    From: Liv Clafford

    Hi Professor,

    My name is Liv and I’m with the University of Illinois Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Campus Action club. Illinois PIRG Campus Action is a student activist group working on important issues on campus like environmental protection, college affordability, non-partisan voter registration, and more!

    This semester, we have in-person and virtual, internship and volunteer opportunities for students to learn valuable organizing skills and make a real difference in our community. 

    Can we make a quick 5 minute announcement in your class next week? Please let us know if we are able to do this in person or virtually.

    For the past 40 years we have been working on college campuses to amplify the power of student activism. We know students want to make a difference on important issues like banning single use plastics or making college more affordable. 

    We’re looking for students who are passionate about these issues and want to put their knowledge into action.  We work with student interns and train them to run effective, strategic campaigns.  

    If we are not able to make an announcement, can you send the information below to your students? 

    Thanks so much for the help!


    Liv Clafford

    773-710-4089
    lclafford at illinoispirgstudents.org

  13. WorkNet in MarketPlace

    Associated Project(s): 
    Green Jobs

    East Central Illinois workNet now has a big presence at Market Place Shopping Center, with hall standees and table tent displays in the Food Court promoting the program. You will also be seeing information about our services on MTD buses in the coming weeks.

     

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  14. Resilience iCAP Team Meeting Minutes from 1-27-21

    Associated Project(s): 
    Resilience iCAP Team
    Urban Biodiversity Master Plan
    Green Jobs
    Environmental Justice Plan

    The Resilience Team met on Wednesday, Jan. 27th for their first meeting of the Spring semester. Our clerk, Kimmy, proposed changes to our iCAP portal theme page and received comments from all team members. The Biodiversity Plan recommendation is in the final steps of gathering approval from every team member and will likely be submitted to the iWG this month. Lastly, the team had a brainstorming session for how to identify existing green jobs infrastructure and how to coordinate our environmental justice efforts with the community -- specifically the Sustainability Advisory Commission for the City of Urbana. 

    Agenda, meeting minutes, and chat log are attached.

    Attached Files: