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Greetings!
This issue marks my first as interim project manager for Green Capital Alliance, while Kristine is on maternity leave. Kristine and her family welcomed baby Alice to the world on July 15!
I'm delighted to be involved with Green Capital Alliance due to both its mission for our region and also to the commitment of the partners that drive the Alliance forward.
You can reach me any time at meg.arnold@valleyvision.org, or on my mobile at (530) 867-1921.
- Meg |
UPCOMING EVENTS
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Event: Sacramento Sustainability Forum Date and Time: August 20 2009, 6:00pm-9:00pm Location: Radisson Hotel Sacramento, 500 Leisure Lane Focus: A monthly venue connecting businesses, non-profits, government and interested
citizens in the Sacramento region in order to promote sustainability. Registration is free. Visit www.sacramentosustainabilityforum.eventbrite.com. Event: Mission: Clean & Green Host: Sacramento Business Journal Date and Time: August 28 2009, 7:30am-9:30am Location: Hyatt Regency Sacramento, 1209 L Street Focus: A panel of experts will discuss the "green" vision for the Sacramento
region. For more information and to register, go to the Sacramento Business Journal event information page.
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| Green Careers Guide Website Launch |
With the Sacramento region's clean energy technology sector rapidly growing, the Golden Sierra Workforce Investment Board and Sacramento Employment and Training Agency/Sacramento Works partnered with the Green Capital Alliance to launch the Green Careers Guide website. The website is designed to provide information about employment opportunities in the clean tech sector, current regional growth projections for green jobs, and information about the local education and training programs available to prepare workers for green careers.
Emerging occupations in the clean energy sector provide high quality
work opportunities for people with all levels of education and
training, providing new career paths for youth, dislocated workers,
people pursuing new degrees and certifications, and workers seeking a
job change.
Program information
has been collected from area
education institutions, utility training centers, clean energy
organizations
and associations, and other providers. Using this inventory and a
series
of studies forecasting job growth in the Sacramento region's clean
energy
sector, the GCA has completed an analysis of training gaps. As
follow-up local clean energy employers have been interviewed to gather
their insights on how
to design new courses and programs to fill these gaps. All of this information can be found in a report and on the Green Careers Guide website.
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Working Group to Assess Property-Tax-Based
Financing
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 Green
Capital Alliance has convened a working group to evaluate the feasibility of a
property-tax-based financing program in the Sacramento region. These
programs, often called "AB 811" after the 2008 legislation that
created the opportunity, provide property owners with a loan to invest in
energy efficiency or solar improvements to their property. The loan is
then repaid through a property tax assessment. If the property is sold,
the loan remains with the property and becomes an obligation of the new owner,
which can reduce owners' concerns that their improvements may not pay back
their investments before they sell the property.
In
California, property-tax-based programs have already been launched in Berkeley,
Palm Desert, and Sonoma County, and others are under active development.
In addition, the California Energy Commission is has set aside a portion
of its State Energy Program (SEP) funds to support AB 811-type programs in the
state.
GCA's
involvement in this issue was spurred by feedback from the Sacramento Region
Clean Energy Roundtable discussions held in early 2009, where industry leaders
identified customer financing for energy efficiency and solar as a critical
need. There's more information about AB 811 on the Green Capital Alliance
website, including a wealth of resources from other communities that have
already implemented such plans.
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