Natural gas-powered HVAC systems are in Boston officials’ and designers’ crosshairs as they look to slash the commercial real estate sector’s carbon emissions.
A big, unsolved challenge in shrinking the commercial real estate sector’s carbon emissions is finding enough people to do the work.
Now, a partnership between Roxbury Community College and a range of companies in Greater Boston’s real estate sector are trying to make a dent in the problem.
Through PowerCorpsBOS, nearly two dozen Roxbury Community College students get both classroom and real-world training in a range of green construction industry jobs through what Boston officials call an “earn and learn” approach. The program, run by the city, pays students to participate in hands-on learning experiences and also offers career readiness support, and connections to employers in the green industry. Slots in the program are prioritized for people leaving the criminal justice system, teens who have experienced homelessness or who have been in foster care.
Business-backed advocacy group A Better City coordinates the hands-on training sessions at buildings owned or operated by Beacon Capital Partners, Newmark, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, C&W Services, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, JLL and MassGeneral Hospital. The group’s work is funded by the Linde Family Foundation and the Barr Foundation.
“Public private partnerships are a vital strategy for building a green and growing city for everyone,” said Yve Torrie, director of climate, energy & resilience at A Better City, said in a statement. “This PowerCorpsBOS partnership is poised to enhance our City’s economic health and competitiveness, while promoting equitable growth for the in-demand jobs of today and tomorrow. We are immensely grateful to the City of Boston for their vision, to [Roxbury Community College] for their curriculum expertise, and to the participating A Better City member companies and institutions for stepping up to provide real-world training and employment opportunities.”
The inaugural PowerCorps cohort of 21 students graduated in December after work focused on urban forestry – planting and caring for trees. Future cohorts will have access to a building operations pathway that will train workers for jobs like energy audits and maintenance of electrical, HVAC and plumbing systems, city officials said, with the goal of transitioning participants to full-time jobs in partner companies after six months of training.
“We are thrilled to support the City of Boston’s program to build and train a workforce that will run the energy efficient buildings of the future,” said Jim Tierney, JLL New England market director and board chair at A Better City, said in a statement. “A Better City member companies are providing state-of-the-art buildings as a training opportunity for hands-on experience in building operations. These buildings showcase the latest in technology and sustainability preparing trainees for the jobs of the future.”
