What Van Jones' Appointment Means for Community Organizers

Yesterday, Van Jones was named as the Obama administration’s Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise, and Innovation. This appointment comes on the heels of some exciting circumstances, events, and conferences that have happened just this year (and we’re only 3 months in). But what does having Van Jones as this special advisor mean, not only for “enviros,” but for community organizers in general?

Yesterday, Van Jones was named as the Obama administration's Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise, and Innovation. This appointment comes on the heels of some exciting circumstances, events, and conferences that have happened just this year (and we're only 3 months in). But what does having Van Jones as this special advisor mean, not only for "enviros," but for community organizers in general?

The first thing that seems striking to me, personally, is that the love that community organizers gave to Obama, because he was one of us, is well warranted! It wasn't a façade, it wasn't "poli-tricks," it wasn't a gimmick - Obama is REALLY a community organizer. The fact that Obama's administration selected a community organizer to be a special advisor for the piece of policy that could ultimately be responsible for saving this nation's pocketbook and the planet, is not only note worthy but responsible, and smart.

Secondly, I mentioned above that this appointment comes on the heels of some exciting events, et cetera, that took place just this year. The Good Jobs Green Jobs conference, that took place in early February, was an exciting place to be at the moment in time it took place (right as the Senate was debating President Obama's "Green" stimulus package).

Like most conferences it had its fantastic moments such as Green for All's final day plenary, and the talk of working models that are in place in states all over this nation - like Chicago and Oakland to name a few - that coincide with providing pathways out of poverty. And, of course there were some moments that could be improved upon, for instance, there still seems to be some major conversations had between community groups and labor unions.

Coming out of the conference there arose some new inspirations as well as some big questions for me: One conversation that was lacking though out the main pulse of the conference was how we ensure that vulnerable communities, communities that are least responsible but most impacted by the pollution based economy, get access to this new developing green economy. And I'm not simply talking about jobs; I'm talking about how to those communities, the community that I am apart of, get access to the money that will be flowing from the federal government...if green jobs get put in the stimulus package.

Then, just a few weeks later, comes this "Green" stimulus bill that gets passed by the administration, and guess what? It fully funds Green Jobs...$500 million dollars for training in new jobs to build the green-collar economy..

Next, a mere 10 days after the stimulus package is passed, there's the largest youth conference on climate change EVER! Power Shift 2009 in which 12,000 young people attended and participated in what's slated to be the biggest lobby day this country has ever seen. The atmosphere was crazy, inspired, and ready for action but I was still missing some key pieces; inspired, but still had some major questions about what this really means for people and how it plays out for folks in my community specifically.

Questions like: How to we get access to those funds to foster green entrepreneurship within our communities; how do we ensure that we have enough training programs and have access to those educational and advancement opportunities; how do we talk with labor unions and work together to invest in and create apprenticeship programs that not only provide jobs for their workers; but also produce a pathway out of poverty for new workers from our community; how do we insure that people from the community are involved in and hired for the massive work that will be done on infrastructure thru this legislation? And I can think of about 20 more questions still bouncing around in my head.

Having Van in this position settles my mind on some of those questions. Because, I know that he is going to be a great voice to have on the federal policy level. BUT we still have work to do! We can't depend solely on Van to carry our ideas, values, and beliefs about what green jobs should be on his own. We've still go to show up in DC, we've still got to show up in our states, and local governments. We still have to keep a watchful eye of the funds when they come down, so that we can insure that it's being used justly. We still have to make sure that training opportunities are available to the communities we represent, especially in vulnerable communities.

We can celebrate the federal victory, we can even celebrate the appointment of Van to this highly important position - but we cannot be content. Not until our vision of green jobs becomes a reality, and there are real opportunities for people of color, and low-income people to get the training they need in the new green economy, to have a pathway out of poverty, to advance in their work, live with dignity and integrity. So all people can breathe clean air, eat good food, and enjoy the fullness of what this planet has to offer (like seasons).

That's my humble opinion - share your thoughts on any number of these things in the comments below.

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Last week, when Van Jones

Submitted by Sandy Tracy (not verified) on March 11, 2009 - 3:56pm.

Last week, when Van Jones spoke at the U of M, I was moved to tears several times. Van Jones seems to be an authentic person with real experience and leadership skills to move the concept of the Green Economy forward. I am just about finished reading his book, "The Green Collar Economy" and would recommend it. His book certainly validates the work that MoveOn.org is doing to involve communities and generate ideas from the grassroots level up in their next series of events. I think I have a new role model. Yeah, Van. Congratulations on your appointment. I know you are the right person for the job.

I know!

Submitted by Phil (not verified) on March 16, 2009 - 4:26pm.

I've been following Van's work around Green Jobs for over a year now, and had been hoping that Obama would appoint him to some post. Awesome! The scary thing for me is a lack of infrastructure to perform training and implementation of green jobs. I know the stimulus dollars were injected into the economy in order to prevent things from getting any worse - immediately. But it's ludicrous to me that Las Vegas is getting $4 million for youth WIA services - and really doesn't have ANY nonprofits or workforce training capable of training and developing our young folks. Our capacity is so low - so it looks like we'll be putting a bunch of tax dollars into non-profits that deliver terribly. It seems like we need someone on a nat'l level able to check on capacities and policies in every locale to make sure that Green Jobs, and other innovative policies, are implemented EFFECTIVELY. Hopefully this person is Van Jones.

Additional Thoughts

Submitted by Phil (not verified) on March 16, 2009 - 4:35pm.

After just posting, I remembered something else: the impoverishment of organizing around green jobs. Recently, a friend working for one of a number of national green jobs lobbying organizing efforts. She contacted me to see if the organization I work at would endorse her efforts locally. I was excited for a minute, thinking that she was building a coalition on the local level of people down for green jobs - maybe building some infrastructure for the creation of these jobs. No - her "organizing" work is solely getting people/organizations to sign on to and endorse their platform so that they can push it nationally. We just WON the funding of green jobs - and have yet to see how this pans out. WHY ARE YOU FIGHTING FOR MORE JOBS, WHEN WE DON'T EVEN HAVE THE INFRASTRUCTURE LOCALLY TO CREATE AND DISTRIBUTE THESE JOBS? THIS WORK IS SOOOO OUT OF TOUCH WITH WHAT'S HAPPENING ON THE GROUND! More internet-based organizing, without any actual attention to local needs, local relationships, and local capacities. A proper organizing strategy around green jobs would be figuring out what coalitions and partnerships need to be created between the private/public/non-profit sector in various cities in order to have TRULY EFFECTIVE green jobs implementation. So WHY ARE WE WASTING TIME AND MONEY IN GETTING PEOPLE TO ENDORSE SOME PLATFORM? THIS IS LOBBYING, NOT ORGANIZING. AND NOT FORWARD-THINKING! Mr. Jones, please give us some focus and planning, so that our national networks can actually be useful.

"Green Jobs"

Submitted by Ron Wolfe (not verified) on March 30, 2009 - 11:17am.

It seems to me that the first thing to do is to define "Green Jobs”. Once you have that firmly defined, the next step is to begin doing a little creative thinking about products and services that fit within the limits of the definition. Once you have that list, you can begin to prioritize in terms of "degree of green” i.e. benefits to the environment, our society, people in developing countries, wildlife, etc. Once you have a list of "green" products and services prioritized by importance / demand / needs, you can begin to assess what training is required to provide those products / services. I think that in defining "green" we should begin by establishing a focus on human needs. First there are the essentials: food, water, shelter, and clothing. In the second tier, I would place a sanitary environment, a protective, life-supporting atmosphere and energy sources. On the third tier I place education, transportation and health care. OK, these are things I am saying we need to survive as a society. To get any one of them, we must be aware of the impact our methods have on any of the others. We do not want to deplete forest resources to provide a house for everyone, we do not want to pollute the air in return for cheap energy, or transportation. We do not want to sacrifice clean rivers and streams in return for more productive crop yields. We must also maintain an awareness of the importance of the symbiotic relationships we have with all other life on this planet. So, "Green Jobs" are those that provide products and services that fit into the matrix of human needs with minimal negative impact on any cell of this matrix, including our relationship with other life forms. Now, before getting into a discussion of green jobs and green job requirements, we also need to discuss values. Our society has become enamored with "money" as the basis of judging a persons "value". This attitude has got to change. Teachers are just as important as bankers or stock brokers (more important in my opinion). The company that picks up our trash, manages a recycling program and manages composting landfills is more important to society than the company that produces lap top computers. So, whe we begin talking about "green jobs" lets think of value in terms of the contribution to society first. The ultimate goal is to refocus our priorities to allow everyone who is willing to contribute to the success of the team to earn a decent wage. Every hardworking American should be part of the "middle class". Green job categories: Food: Production, processing, distribution, greater emphasis on plant products than on meat. Water: Purification, protection, rain water collection, gray water use for irrigation. Shelter: Maintenance and up grading existing buildings as well as building new, mor energy efficient ones. Energy : Sources ( wind, solar, bio fuels), conservation, storage Sanitation: Waste recycling, composting, methods to extend expected life of products, efficient sewage treatment, manure conversion facilities. Transportation: human powered (promotion of bike and walking paths) , mass transit (trains, buses, etc) This commentary is getting too long to hold a readers attention, but you can see where it is going and I think get some idea of where I am heading with this discussion. We need for community groups to look around for needs in the community and make proposals for either "greening" existing jobs or creating new "green" ones.

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Camille Cyprian
Camille Cyprian is currently the SNAP Outreach Manager at Second Harvest Heartland, where she works with the government and organizations to assist families and individuals gain access to food.

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