Clean Energy Works High Road Outcomes: New Faces, Career Pathways and Increasing Influence Introduction

Transcription

1 Clean Energy Works High Road Outcomes: New Faces, Career Pathways and Increasing Influence Introduction In March 2011, Green For All issued a report titled High Road Outcomes in Portland s Energy Efficiency Upgrade Pilot. It provides ideal background on the Clean Energy Works Portland pilot and the early program design. The document you are reading, Clean Energy Works High Road Outcomes: New Faces, Career Pathways and Increasing Influence, includes some information from that report and provides updated information as well. It also provides deeper analysis of our accomplishments and challenges, and new data and information on initiatives from our more recent work as a statewide organization. A word about Clean Energy Works Oregon (CEWO): CEWO is transforming the market for home performance services through quality program delivery, financial product innovation and excellence in customer and stakeholder relations. CEWO is unique because it provides a one-stop program for whole-home energy upgrades in regions throughout the state. With nearly 1,700 completed home energy projects, more than $24 million in economic development, and 175 new construction jobs, CEWO is a proven engine for business development, job growth and installed energy efficiency. The High Road approach is a core value of Clean Energy Works developed during the Clean Energy Works Portland pilot (CEWP) to ensure inclusion of and economic equity for historically underrepresented communities and economically disadvantaged populations. Worker Profile Prior to entering the weatherization and home performance field, Albert Horsley, Jr. had gone through some training programs, taken community college classes and had on-and-off work, including at a salvage yard where he made $8.50 an hour. Albert, who is African American, was also in and out of homelessness, sometimes living under a bridge. In 2010 he found out that he was eligible for the Laborers weatherization training program through the Native American Youth & Family Center (NAYA). He completed the training and became a certified weatherization technician. He initially worked for Verde Energy and now works for Sustainable Solutions. CEWO recently directed resources to allow him to be trained as a building performance analyst. He is working on passing the final test to become fully certified. From the beginning, local, state and national leaders and organizers understood that there was a unique opportunity in the construction sector as it was spiraling downward due to the economy and changing from a focus on new construction to a focus on retrofits. The time was right to transform the market and deliver on the idea that a financially self-sustaining home performance industry could not only reduce energy consumption (which helps reduce energy/utility bill burdens) but also support economic equity and pathways out of poverty. Undergirded by meaningful stakeholder engagement, the framework focused on workforce development or green jobs (wages, benefits, training, hiring) and business development/support. In other words, changing the demographic makeup of the workers and businesses working in home performance and increasing pay and benefit standards were deemed to be the critical pieces needed for equitable economic development and job creation.

2 Early on, the City of Portland invited a unique and impressive group of organizations to come together to craft an agreement on High Road goals and strategies. Organizational and business partners included the Energy Trust of Oregon, Conservation Services Group, and a group of local stakeholders and advocates including Carpenters Union Local 247, LiUNA Laborers Union Local 483, Coalition for a Livable Future, Metropolitan Alliance for a Common Good, Metropolitan Contractor Improvement Partnership, Oregon Tradeswomen, Worksystems, Inc., Oregon Apollo Alliance, National Association of Minority Contractors of Oregon, Native American Youth and Family Center and Green for All. This agreement laid out the roadmap to creating jobs while providing high-quality employment and access for those in the community who have been historically left out of new economic opportunities. Mayor Sam Adams subsequently appointed a Stakeholder Committee to provide ongoing community input on implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Known originally as the Community Workforce Agreement, it is a framework of workforce and community standards, targets and benefits that can be used to measure, encourage and promote success, as summarized below: Requirements for contractor participation (e.g., local hire, paying family-supporting wages and hiring from designated training providers) Incentives for meeting specific objectives (e.g., providing health care insurance, employing a diverse workforce, being or contracting with a historically underrepresented businesses, mentoring other contractors) Support for approved and emerging contractors (e.g., training and continuing education resources, business classes, business coaching, peer mentoring, access to working capital, engagement and outreach efforts targeting underrepresented and economically disadvantaged contractors) When CEWO came into being, one of its first actions was to convene a statewide High Road Advisory Committee to refine the High Road Standards and Benefits for implementation in communities throughout the state. This group considered input and information from a Portland pilot scale-up subcommittee; from the Rogue Valley s Green Jobs Council (who independently developed its own Community Workforce Agreement); and from national research about best practices nationwide. All the recommendations from this group were incorporated into a new agreement in The key benchmarks against which High Road success and progress are measured include: 30% of all trade and technical hours worked by historically underrepresented and economically disadvantaged people, including people of color, women, low-income residents and veterans. 20% of total project dollars to diverse businesses those owned by historically disadvantaged or underrepresented people. At least 80% of workers participating are residents of their own communities. Local is defined as within a 50-mile radius of the project, unless otherwise defined by the community. 180% of Oregon state minimum wage or Clean Energy Works established wage minimum (250% for specialized work in the Metro area and 200% for specialized work in rural areas) paid to workers participating in our projects. 100% of workers receive either health insurance coverage or additional wages at no less than $2.50 per hour in lieu of coverage, which is allowed for up to 6 months, after which health care coverage should be provided.

3 Resources for continuing education and certification are available to those coming into the home performance industry and to those ready for opportunities for promotion and upward mobility through career pathways and training in entrepreneurship. Successes and Accomplishments Clean Energy Works has seen numerous successes and accomplishments in meeting and exceeding High Road goals and targets. This section highlights the quantitative successes in both CEWP and CEWO. An important accomplishment to share from the outset: when CEWP was launched, the first round of projects did not have any participating minority- or women-owned (MBE/WBE) contractors. In fact, there was only one minority- or women-owned home performance contractor (H.E.L.P.) who had the certifications to participate. Now, there are 5 MBE/WBE participating prime contractors, and roughly 8 MBE/WBE subcontractors are regularly utilized by CEWO contractors. Ultimately, CEWP achieved what it set out to do as a pilot: it paved the way for High Road and other forms of program success, including recruiting minority and women contractors to the home performance field and directing project dollars to minority and women-owned firms. Specific results included: 55.24% of the more than 61,000 project work hours were performed by women and people of color o Women performed more than 9% of the total construction hours 24% project dollars went to minority or women-owned small businesses Nearly 60% of the workers received employer-subsidized health care plans; Median wage for all workers was $18 per hour, and the average wage was $ (These wage figures include hourly wages for trade work plumbing, HVAC, etc., which historically has a strong and consistent wage.) To date, CEWO has improved upon all CEWP numbers except in diverse minorityand women-owned business participation, which is analyzed in more detail in the Challenges and Opportunities Section (page 8). Specific results we ve gathered so far include: 55.64% of the more than 127,660 project work hours have been performed by women and people of color o Worker Profile Rodrigo Alfredo Paniagua was working part-time installing drywall and found full-time work with a CEWO contractor. CEWO is helping workers like Rodrigo pursue meaningful career pathways with family-supporting wages and benefits. CEWO partners with community-based organizations, training providers, workforce agencies and contractors to recruit, train and employ qualified people for the growing home performance industry. Women performed nearly 15% of the work hours, a 60% increase from the pilot. The percentage of work hours performed by people of color decreased by 10% from the pilot to CEWO: 48.40% to 43.02% 13.15% project dollars are going to minority or women-owned small businesses More than 87% of our prime contractors offer employer-subsidized health insurance

4 Median wage for all workers is $18.46 per hour, and the average wage is $22.69, an increase of 12.4% since the pilot. This increase is most likely due to our accounting for the dollar value of health insurance that contractors are now required to provide. 46% of new hires are women and people of color Visit to download the long version of this paper that includes a table with CEWP data, CEWO data and combined data. Data from the General Construction Industry Over the last five years, the construction industry in Oregon has suffered a decline in employment. According to the Oregon Employment Department, employment went down 37% from 2007 to Although this is not as steep a decline as what occurred nationally and in other sates California, for example it has resulted in nearly 39,000 jobs lost. Many residential contractors have looked for growth sectors of the market to survive in this climate. Many have re-tooled their businesses to focus more on energy efficiency work on existing homes, rather than rely on the new home construction market, which has slowed down over the last several years. For example, Green Energy Solutions, a CEWO contractor out of Hillsboro, was almost exclusively doing new residential construction work until late At this time, the firm s owner recognized a need to establish more market resilience and began gaining experience in home performance. Today, Green Energy Solutions is one of CEWO s topperforming contractors and employs nearly 20 people in its home performance division. Contractor Profile Home Energy Life Performance Group (H.E.L.P.) Berenice Lopez-Dorsey has been in construction for more than a dozen years. Her company, H.E.L.P. Group, Inc., has been one of the highest performing, reliable and customer-friendly full-status contractors in Clean Energy Works for the past two years. Her conversion rate from home assessment to completed project is outstanding; she consistently meets or exceeds program requirements (service level agreements) and expectations. And because of her performance, she has been designated a peer mentor to work with new contractors on best practices in home performance and business management. She also has been able to create good-paying jobs for her employees, who typically were either from difficult and disadvantaged backgrounds or had been laid off. To support her crew, she has invested in a health plan for them and their dependents. Berenice understands that her growing company is a boost to the local economy. Historically, the construction industry has lacked race and gender diversity. Many practices were in place until recently that explicitly kept women and people of color from entering registered apprenticeship programs, which limited their ability to gain experience to become skilled tradespeople or business owners in construction. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women and people of color still make up a disproportionately small part of the construction industry (visit to download the long version of this paper that includes a table with more detailed construction industry data). Through program policy and stakeholder collaboration, Clean Energy Works has built a more inclusive and diverse workforce makeup by applying and supporting

5 the achievement of higher goals than what is seen in the general construction industry in Oregon and in the Metro area. Providing a family-supporting wage to our diverse workforce is an important accomplishment in residential construction. Our focus has been on raising wages for entry-level weatherization work, which historically has had low wages, few if any benefits and little advocacy or labor organizing. CEWO employers pay 180% of state minimum wage which currently comes out to $15.84 per hour as a floor to ensure that workers are receiving family-supporting wages. This is in accordance with the Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Technology Act of 2009 (EEAST). There are some comparative conclusions we can draw from the CEWP/CEWO data, the data we gathered from interviews with our contractors and from data from the general construction industry: The percentage work hours performed by people of color on Clean Energy Works projects 44.77% is outpacing the demographic makeup of people of color in the construction industry in Oregon, which is 18.22%. The total percentage of women s work hours 12.65% is outpacing the demographic makeup of women in the construction industry in Oregon, which is 2.28%. The average wage for Clean Energy Works projects (pilot, $20.38 and statewide, $22.69) is $21.54 and is outpacing the average hourly wage for insulation work in Oregon and nationally, which is $15.30 to $15.90 (including residential, commercial and industrial insulation). CEWO contractors report that the going rate in hourly wages for typical residential weatherization work tends to top out at $9 to $11. to download the long version of this paper that includes a table with more detailed data. Broader Impact Clean Energy Works has become a point of reference as a best practice for organizations and agencies that want to develop and implement a High Road approach. While CEWO s experience and strategies are not a silver bullet, our High Road efforts are seen as the starting point for organizations and groups when they begin to explore how to best integrate standards and policies for inclusion and diversity, particularly in the areas of workforce development and business participation. Organizations and agencies that have used and are using CEWO and the High Road approach include: The Portland Development Commission Oregon Department of Energy and Cool Schools program participants Energy Trust of Oregon High Road Contractor and Community Alliance (HRCCA) Contractor Profile Faison Energy Solutions Faison Construction is a certified MBE and has a long history as a successful concrete firm in the Portland Metro area and beyond. During the pilot, Faison engaged with stakeholders to get involved in the home performance industry and expand its offerings. Faison now has a division exclusively dedicated to Home Performance, called Faison Energy Solutions. The company was able to find its legs with the business generated during the CEWP pilot, and now is continuing to expand this division in CEWO. Faison is focusing on increasing their demand through more marketing and outreach with CEWO and community partners, which enables the company to refine its business processes and pursue the opportunities in this sector.

6 The Home Performance Guild of Oregon Additional local, national and international venues where we ve presented, shared information and educated audiences on our High Road standards, benefits and outcomes include: ACI National Home Performance Conference, Baltimore, Maryland; Green JobsBC Forum, Vancouver, British Columbia; Green Professionals Conference, Portland, Oregon; Good Jobs Green Jobs, Los Angeles; Oregon Employment Department, Salem, Oregon; and Workforce Investment Council (Clackamas County), Oregon City, Oregon. Current Initiatives Diverse Business Participation Program We have reexamined our business support efforts and have established parameters and goals to help us grow, develop and prepare minority-owned and women-owned (MBE and WBE) contractors and subcontractors for work in this area and for the 2013 CEWO application process. Our goal is to increase the current diverse participation percentage 25% by reaching out to MBE/WBE construction firms through outreach activities, education and orientation sessions and networking events. Worksystems and Clean Energy Works Oregon Partnership CEWO and Worksystems (WSI) the designated regional coordinator of the Portland Metropolitan area workforce system have come together to provide training and employment support in the growing home performance and energy efficiency arena. By combining resources and grant funds, CEWO and WSI aim to direct more than $450,000 in the next 12 to 18 months to help entry level workers access opportunities for weatherization training, employment planning and on-the-job training. Worker Profile Marenda Chamberlin has always been interested in carpentry. She started by going through the pre-apprenticeship training at Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. (OTI). Because jobs were hard to find over the last few years in her preferred trade, she turned to weatherization. After finding employment at Verde Energy, she did onthe-job training with Clackamas County Weatherization. Her training was partly funded by the US Dept. of Labor Pathways Out of Poverty grant. With her new skills, she quickly moved up and became a crew supervisor. She is now working for a different contractor, where she sees longterm potential and the opportunity to move from crew supervisor to project manager. Currently, Marenda enjoys educating homeowners on energy efficiency and has thought about starting her own business, or perhaps she ll fulfill her lifelong ambition and become a carpenter in green building. Marenda is also serving as a member of the working group looking into registered apprenticeship for weatherization. Program to Diversify the Workforce through Pre- Apprenticeship with a Focus on African American Males As stated earlier, Clean Energy Works workforce hours by minorities and women is outpacing the demographic makeup of women and minorities in construction. Since the pilot, we have seen increases in the percentage of work hours performed by women and a decline in the percentage of work hours performed by people of color, African Americans in particular. While we celebrate the increase by women, we also want to ensure we do not take the gains by people of color for granted.

7 Registered Apprenticeship for Weatherization Workers Clean Energy Works Oregon is convening experts and stakeholders in the home performance field to develop an application for a registered apprenticeship pathway in Oregon for a weatherization technician/ installer. Revised Allocation Policy CEWO has changed the way it is awarding allocations to contractors. The revised allocation policy awards Performance Based Allocations to contractors, including an award for High Road Excellence. The High Road Excellence allocation recognizes contractors for supplying employee benefits (dependent health care insurance coverage, 401k, paid vacation, dental, vision, etc.) and for sub-contracting at least 30% of its sub-contracting dollars to minority- or women-owned firms. Application and Orientation Process The application is used to determine if a firm is qualified or not, and meeting High Road standards at this stage of the process does not play as much of a role in determining allocations. All new contractors who are accepted into CEWO are given Basic Contractor Status, which means they need to demonstrate proficiency in specific areas and complete several process steps before they are eligible for Full Status and any program allocations. Our orientation and ramping up processes are also more extensive, requiring that contractors meet several objectives to move from Basic Status to Full Status, including completion of classes in business management and finance, business coaching with an expert consultant and peer mentoring with our highest-performing full status contractors. Challenges and Opportunities While we have generally experienced success and progress regarding our High Road approach, some of our successes and accomplishments did run into obstacles and hurdles initially. Obstacles that we either overcame or are working on are listed below.. Health insurance requirements need to have a range of options for businesses. On-the-job training subsidy is a necessity to ensure contractors use the pipeline of entry level workers The decline in diverse business participation as represented by both a percentage of project dollars going to minority- or women-owned contractor companies and total dollar amount. Engaging consumers from different income levels and racial/ethnic backgrounds, as well as nonnative English speakers. Worker Profile When Sary Dobhran moved to Portland she had a hard time finding work and went on welfare though she had a bachelor s degree. She really liked the hands-on aspect of weatherization and had experience in finished carpentry, so she enrolled in pre-apprenticeship at OTI. As a single mother, Sary just wanted to be able to provide for her family and get a job with benefits. Like a growing number of successful women who are working in home performance, she submitted her paperwork to WorkSource, was eventually hired by a contractor and received on-the-job training. Additionally, she found funding for training in air and duct sealing and building performance. Now she s with SolarCity s Energy Efficiency Division, enjoying meeting homeowners and hearing the story of their house and what they want to do. She feels like an absolute success story and is committed to making the most of her opportunity so the investments that were made in her are there for others.

8 The way we communicate and frame the concept of High Road standards and the associated concepts of equity, inequity, inclusion, diversity, etc. Procurement policies and legal requirements and enforcement mechanisms High Road implementation vis-à-vis statewide expansion and scale-up Funding and revenue streams for the continued development and implementation of High Road program development Conclusion Clean Energy Works has created tangible outcomes and opportunities for workers, contractors and other partners and stakeholders. We have helped change the face of the home performance industry, bringing more women and people of color into the field and more minority-owned and women-owned businesses than were involved at the beginning. We have supported the establishment of a higher wage standard for high-quality residential construction work. We have provided training and hiring opportunities for local communities across the state. Clean Energy Works and its partners are in a unique position to carry the High Road forward in new and exciting ways.