BlocPower's Civilian Climate Corps Trains 1700+ New Yorkers for Green Jobs in First Year

BlocPower celebrates the milestone with an awards ceremony, impact report and the launch of dedicated training hubs in Brooklyn and the Bronx.

NEW YORK, Oct. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, BlocPower, a national climate tech company focused on decarbonizing aging urban buildings, celebrates the one-year anniversary of the Civilian Climate Corps—a $37 million precision employment initiative funded by Mayor Eric Adams Office of Criminal Justice.

The green construction workforce development project launched last fall and offers career pathways in the rapidly growing fields of clean energy technology and building modernization. Under the mandate of Mayor Adams, the program aims to help keep New Yorkers safe by providing long term economic opportunity for communities and individuals most vulnerable to gun violence.

Through the Civilian Climate Corps, New York City is expanding and diversifying its clean energy workforce while delivering environmental justice and improved public safety.

To mark the program's first year, BlocPower hosted an awards ceremony for members of the Civilian Climate Corps and key stakeholders in addition to releasing a Year One Impact Report detailing program success stories and performance metrics.

Highlights of the report include:

• 1700+ members trained since fall of 2021, 81% of which were previously under or unemployed
• 400+ job placements in heat pump and solar installation, building energy auditing & related fields
• 28% combined reduction in incidents of gun violence year to date as of September 2022, for the 40th and 42nd precincts in the Bronx and the 67th precinct in Brooklyn, where the Civilian Climate Corps hosts cohorts

This fall, BlocPower will unveil new dedicated green workforce training hubs in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn and Morrisania in the South Bronx. The hubs will enable the Civilian Climate Corps to scale its operations and strengthen its programming in two important neighborhoods. 

"Our Civilian Climate Corps is at the heart of BlocPower's mission to make buildings smarter, greener and healthier—while ensuring the benefits of the clean energy economy are accessible to low income Americans," says co-founder and General Manager of BlocPower, Keith Kinch. "When we launched a year ago, we knew we had a historic opportunity to build a more equitable green workforce in New York City and make our communities safer. The Civilian Climate Corps has not only done that, but also begun to deliver the highly skilled construction workers our nation needs to rebuild our infrastructure and fight the climate crisis."

BlocPower founder and CEO Donnel Baird shared, "BlocPower is thrilled to support Mayor Eric Adams vision to address the climate crisis and public safety. We think that the Civilian Climate Corps offers a model for confronting the major challenges facing cities across America. We are continually inspired by what we learn every day from program participants and workers about how to thrive in the face of significant adversity, in pursuit of a better life for themselves and their families. That is the American Dream, and we are seeing it unfold right here in NY—with clean energy jobs FOR ALL. Climate justice for all is not a secondary or tertiary priority. The only path to massive reductions of greenhouse gas emissions in America runs right through inspiring and engaging urban communities to LEAD the climate fight".

Graduate of the Civilian Climate Corps, Jevon Rock, was one of three Members of the Year award recipients. "BlocPower is the only company that gave me an opportunity in the past few years, and that's including before the pandemic started," said Rock, who now conducts building energy audits. "I tried my hand at other trade schools but even with financial aid, they were still out of reach for me. Being paid to learn a trade has helped me elevate and now I'm at the best point in my life that I've ever been."

Additional Members of the Year included Que Cunningham, Wesley Booker and Andy Balkaran. William Diaz Jr. of ESC Cabling earned Instructor of the Year for his work providing Wi-Fi installation training. Additional awards went to CB Emmanuel for Employer of the Year; Vanessa Johnson of ARA Emotional Wellness, Karlasia Grant of ICYFS Case Management and Yolanda Phillips of Elite Learners for Case Managers of the Year; Abby Lovett Uddin and Sony Pierre for Staffers of the Year.

About BlocPower

BlocPower is a Brooklyn-based climate technology company rapidly greening American cities. Since its founding in 2014, the company has completed energy projects in 1,200+ buildings and delivers results ahead of schedule and under budget. BlocPower utilizes its proprietary software for analysis, leasing, project management, and monitoring of urban clean energy projects and its customers are saving 20-40% on their energy bills each year. The company is backed by the world's top investors, including Goldman Sachs, Kapor Capital, Microsoft's Climate Innovation Fund, Andreessen Horowitz and American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact. In 2022, Fast Company named BlocPower the #4 Most Innovative Company in the World. For more information, please visit https://blocpower.io.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE BlocPower