Five Race, class and green jobs in low-income communities in the US: challenges for community development
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Sekou Franklin
Abstract
This chapter focuses on green jobs programs that targeted low-income residents, especially Blacks living in chronically distressed communities. The period under study begins with the date the United States Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 and continues until the height of the congressional budget fights in March 2011. This chapter argues that green jobs programs targeting a marginalized workforce were more likely to be adopted in cities where advocates were able to leverage municipal officials, especially mayors, and collaborate with local economic and racial justice activists on clean energy and other community development projects. Advocates also repositioned the sustainable development (and green jobs) agenda within the broader framework of community development. The success of this repositioning strategy depended on cultivating cross-sector alliances between environmentalists, labor, economic and racial justice groups, and civil rights organizations in support of green jobs programs.
Abstract
This chapter focuses on green jobs programs that targeted low-income residents, especially Blacks living in chronically distressed communities. The period under study begins with the date the United States Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 and continues until the height of the congressional budget fights in March 2011. This chapter argues that green jobs programs targeting a marginalized workforce were more likely to be adopted in cities where advocates were able to leverage municipal officials, especially mayors, and collaborate with local economic and racial justice activists on clean energy and other community development projects. Advocates also repositioned the sustainable development (and green jobs) agenda within the broader framework of community development. The success of this repositioning strategy depended on cultivating cross-sector alliances between environmentalists, labor, economic and racial justice groups, and civil rights organizations in support of green jobs programs.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Table of contents vii
- Rethinking Community Development ix
- Acknowledgements x
- Notes on contributors xi
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Contested concepts of class, past and present
- Class, inequality and community development: editorial introduction 3
- Competing concepts of class: implications and applications for community development 23
- Community development in the UK: whatever happened to class? A historical analysis 39
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Class, inequality and community development in context
- Working-class communities and ecology: reframing environmental justice around the Ilva steel plant in Taranto (Apulia, Italy) 59
- Race, class and green jobs in low-income communities in the US: challenges for community development 77
- Community development practice in India: Interrogating caste and common sense 93
- The impact of gender, race and class on women’s political participation in post-apartheid South Africa: challenges for community development 107
- What happens when community organisers move into government? Recent experience in Bolivia 121
- Community development: (un) fulfilled hopes for social equality in Poland 137
- Rural–urban alliances for community development through land reform from below 153
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Reconnecting class and inequality through community development
- Reconciling participation and power in international development: a case study 171
- Transformative education and community development: sharing learning to challenge inequality 189
- Community development and class in the context of an East Asian productivist welfare regime 205
- Community organising for social change: the scope for class politics 219
- Community unionism: looking backwards, looking forwards 235
- Index 251
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Table of contents vii
- Rethinking Community Development ix
- Acknowledgements x
- Notes on contributors xi
-
Contested concepts of class, past and present
- Class, inequality and community development: editorial introduction 3
- Competing concepts of class: implications and applications for community development 23
- Community development in the UK: whatever happened to class? A historical analysis 39
-
Class, inequality and community development in context
- Working-class communities and ecology: reframing environmental justice around the Ilva steel plant in Taranto (Apulia, Italy) 59
- Race, class and green jobs in low-income communities in the US: challenges for community development 77
- Community development practice in India: Interrogating caste and common sense 93
- The impact of gender, race and class on women’s political participation in post-apartheid South Africa: challenges for community development 107
- What happens when community organisers move into government? Recent experience in Bolivia 121
- Community development: (un) fulfilled hopes for social equality in Poland 137
- Rural–urban alliances for community development through land reform from below 153
-
Reconnecting class and inequality through community development
- Reconciling participation and power in international development: a case study 171
- Transformative education and community development: sharing learning to challenge inequality 189
- Community development and class in the context of an East Asian productivist welfare regime 205
- Community organising for social change: the scope for class politics 219
- Community unionism: looking backwards, looking forwards 235
- Index 251
