Green Collar Blog

White House Middle Class Task Force to Focus on Green Jobs at May 26 Meeting in Denver

The White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families ("Middle Class Task Force") will hold its fourth meeting on May 26 in Denver, Colorado with a focus on "Building a Strong Middle Class Through a Green Economy."  This meeting is a follow-up to the first meeting of the Task Force, which took place on February 27 in Philadelphia and focused on green jobs.

Administration officials expected to attend today's event include Vice President Biden (Chair of Task Force), Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, and Van Jones, Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

This meeting will be held at 2 pm at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. According to the Denver Post, tickets will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 9 am in the Elevation Room of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 1450 Glenarm Place, Denver.

For more information:

• White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families - Home page 
• Middle Class Task Force - Prior coverage by Green Collar Blog 

Video and Reports from First Meeting of White House Middle Class Task Force

As previously reported, the first meeting of the White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families ("Middle Class Task Force") took place on February 27th at the University of Pennsylvania and focused on green jobs.  A variety of materials from the meeting are available:

I. Video, Remarks, and Meeting Notes

A video of the meeting (the opening through the end of the first panel) is available via C-SPAN.

 

Video coverage of the meeting has also been released by the White House:

Panel 1 - Green Jobs: What are They & How Can They Help the Middle Class
Fred Krupp, President of the Environmental Defense Fund; John Podesta, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for American Progress; Van Jones, President and founder of Green for All

Panel 2 - Creating Green Opportunity: The Roles of Stakeholders
Governor Edward G. Rendell, Governor of Pennsylvania; Mayor Michael Nutter, Mayor of Philadelphia; Leo Gerard, the International President of the Steelworkers of America; Cecilia Estolano, The Chief Executive Officer of the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles; Mark Edlen, President of Gerding-Edlen, a Green Development

The White House has also made available Vice President Biden's opening remarks and blog notes documenting the meeting's proceedings.

II. Reports and Presentations

The following are reports and presentations that were made available at the meeting:

• Green Jobs: A Pathway to a Strong Middle Class (Staff Report of Middle Class Task Force)
• Presentation from the Environmental Defense Fund
• Manufacturing Climate Solutions: Carbon-Reducing Technologies and U.S. Jobs (Gary Gereffi, Kristen Dubay, and Marcy Lowe - Center on Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness, Duke University)
• Presentation from the United Steelworkers
• Video from Green for All
  

Green Jobs is Focus of February 27 Meeting of White House Middle Class Task Force

As an update to this prior post, some additional details are available regarding the first meeting of the White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families ("Middle Class Task Force"), which will be taking place at the University of Pennsylvania on February 27th and focusing on green jobs.

According to the White House, the following will be among the questions that the task force will examine at this meeting:

• How can we change Washington to make green jobs a political reality? (John Podesta, President and CEO, Center for American Progress)
• How can we ensure access to green jobs to everyone? (Van Jones, founding President, Green for All)
• How do we connect people who need jobs to companies that need people? (Fred Krupp, President, the Environmental Defense Fund)
• How can the federal government help bring green jobs to the middle class? (Carol Browner, Assistant to President Obama for Energy and Climate Change)
• What's the role of the labor movement in creating green jobs and training workers for them? (Leo Gerard, International President of the Steelworkers of America
• How do you create green jobs in a city? (Michael Nutter, Mayor of Philadelphia)
• How can public-private partnerships help train people for green jobs? (Cecilia Estolano, CEO of the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Authority)
• What's the role for business? (Mark Edlen, President, Gerding-Edlen)

Meda outlets including the Philadelphia Inquirer also have a preview of tomorrow's meeting.  For more information:

• White House Middle Class Task Force to Focus on Green Jobs at First Meeting (Green Collar Blog, January 31, 2009)
• The first meeting: Green jobs as a pathway to a strong middle class (White House Blog, February 25, 2009)
• Biden to Promote Green Jobs in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Inquirer, February 26, 2009)

White House Middle Class Task Force to Focus on Green Jobs at First Meeting

Update (02/26): Additional information regarding this meeting is available.

On January 30th, President Barack Obama signed an Executive order creating a White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families ("Middle Class Task Force").  This task force is "a major initiative targeted at raising the living standards of middle-class, working families in America." Its stated goals are:

• Expanding education and lifelong training opportunities
• Improving work and family balance
• Restoring labor standards, including workplace safety
• Helping to protect middle-class and working-family incomes
• Protecting retirement security

Members of the task force are Vice President Biden, Chair; the Secretaries of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Commerce; the Directors of the National Economic Council, the Office of Management and Budget, the Domestic Policy Council; and the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors.

The task force will have regular meetings and have outreach sessions with representatives of labor, business, and the advocacy communities.  It intends to expedite administrative reforms, propose Executive orders, and develop legislative and policy proposals that can be of special importance to working families.  Members of the public are invited to submit comments and ideas to the task force via a form on its website.

The task force has announced that its first meeting, which will take place on February 27th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will focus on green jobs. Green Collar Blog will provide additional information on this meeting as it becomes available.

For more information:

• White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families - Home page 
• Save the Date: First Meeting 2/27/2009
• Time to Put Middle Class Front and Center (Vice President Joe Biden, January 30, 2009)