Green jobs for vets p1 - Military Transition - Military Times EDGE

Calling it a continuation of their service to their country, 15 military veterans graduated from Colorado’s new Veterans Green Jobs Academy in June with training to work as home energy auditors. The Veterans Green Jobs Academy is a public-private partnership that helps veterans retool for careers in land conservation and restoration, green building and retrofitting, disaster preparedness and response, and urban forestry. The academy describes itself as a mix of classroom and on-the-job training. The eight-week program includes environmental studies, weatherization, energy efficiency and conservation. Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter told graduates the program is so successful it has become a nationwide model for retraining workers for jobs in renewable energy and will soon expand to other states. The Veterans Green Jobs initiative is actively recruiting vets for training at the academy and for direct job placement. Green jobs, broadly defined as work that helps the environment, pay up to 20 percent more than other jobs, are more likely to be union jobs and are more likely to be held by men, but less so by minorities and people who live in cities, according to a report that President Barack Obama’s Middle Class Task Force issued in February.