Our Green Future

Tomorrow is here and we are still training our youth for the jobs of today. Education and community development organizations that hope to stay relevant and survive tough economic times must recognize that we have to prepare kids for jobs that haven’t even been invented yet. The green economy is here and along with it comes limitless opportunity to create new career pathways. While President Obama and Van Jones have brought the concept of a green economy into the mainstream, education and community organizations on the ground are tasked with turning a buzz word like “green economy” into a reality and ensuring that children, youth, and families in disadvantaged communities are part of this new economy through education, training, and access.

Foundations began our urban farm and entrepreneurship program last year and this spring are piloting Teens-Go-Green, a landscaping business that trains youth in landscaping and landscape architecture while providing an important service to the Northwest Philadelphia community. I’ll be honest — as we developed the concepts for these programs over the last two years they were not encompassed within a larger “green” strategy. Now however, we see both the possibility – and the urgency – in developing a broader strategy rooted in the programs we have already begun. Foundations, along with our partners, is developing an ambitious agenda in Northwest Philadelphia that we hope will become a national model for green education, community development, and environmental sustainability. Our initiatives will focus on intergenerational small business development and community food production, green building and stormwater management efforts. Each of these initiatives will build on work we already have in place. We recognize a sea change is occurring throughout the country; the green economy is a wave that is gaining momentum. As this dramatic economic shift occurs we plan to work tirelessly to ensure that the rising tide truly raises all boats.