We Are Creating Clean Energy Jobs Across Delaware
The Empowerment Grant mission is to help identify and support collaborative pathways to bring clean energy and its cost-savings to underserved communities while fostering economic development. By providing underserved communities with access to well-paying jobs, there is the potential to protect the communities from displacement due to gentrification, as well as the potential to break intergenerational poverty.
We seek multi-sector impact leaders to join us in collectively developing comprehensive and innovative models that focuses on moving underserved communities and its people into the clean energy movement.
We provide grants that will be utilized to develop effective, visionary workforce development programs and/or replicate successful clean energy workforce models.
It is the Empowerment Grant Program’s focus to champion training programs that teach basic clean energy retrofitting, weatherization and other needed clean energy skills to local unemployed and underemployed youth, veterans, women, BIPOC, and older workers.
In addition, the Empowerment Grant Program is a clean energy work force development connector. We focus on serving as a bridge between multisector organizations for greater measurable impact.
The Empowerment Grant Program seeks collaboration with innovative workforce programs that propose alternative models and strategies that serve the needs of overburdened and underserved communities. We are committed to partnering to train the next generation of clean energy workers, coordinate job placement, and manage retention.
A. Workforce Shortage
Currently, there’s a shortage of workers, specifically in-home weatherization, and energy efficiency services, that are trained and certified to perform services. By addressing worker shortages and under-employment, the Empowerment Grant Program is contributing to a sustainable workforce pipeline.
This helps underserved communities by providing training for new in-demand clean energy jobs and upskilling existing workers while diversifying the local clean energy sector. For Delaware to remain a national leader in the clean energy sector, cultivating resourceful workforce pools are necessary.
C. Clean Energy’s Diversity Issue
While the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy reports that the energy efficiency workforce is less diverse than the national workforce in terms of gender and race, all areas of the clean energy sector have a severe diversity issue. The path to net zero emissions is creating jobs. However, the lack of diversity threatens to cause women, Black/African American, and Hispanic/Latinx workers to miss out on the next great economic expansion in the US.
In Delaware, approximately a quarter of the clean energy workforce is comprised of diverse people of color. However, it is not proportionate to the diversity in the state. It is lagging. The Empowerment Grant Program is focused on building clean energy jobs that are accessible to people in underserved communities and include upward mobility opportunities. A diverse clean energy sector in Delaware is key to building the workforce demand necessary to meeting greenhouse gas reduction goals.
E. Diverse Excellence in Innovation
A more diverse clean energy workforce will enable companies to better drive forward the clean energy transition. Diversity maximizes talent-driven innovation and boosts productivity. According to the latest McKinsey Diversity Report, the most diverse companies are now more likely than ever to outperform less diverse peers on profitability. Research supports that companies benefit from a diverse range of opinions and perspectives.
G. Promising Clean Energy Jobs Now and for the Future
The Empowerment Grant Program is committed to cultivating a robust and sustainable workforce. Understanding the evolving clean energy (and energy efficiency) sector needs for skilled workers is important.
B. DE Clean Energy Economy
Powered by the increasing interest in environmental sustainability, clean energy is the biggest job creator of all energy sectors in the US. The Delaware clean energy economy continues to grow faster than the overall Delaware economy. According to U.S. News & World Report, Delaware is one of the top states with the largest share of clean energy workers.
D. Clean Energy Jobs Benefit Workers and Underserved Communities
By promoting clean, green, and renewable energy, the Empowerment Grant Program is looking to foster jobs for people at every education level. Clean energy sector employees earn higher hourly wages compared to the national median and other sectors of the economy. Jobs in the clean energy sector can pay up to 25% more than the national median wage. They also are more likely to come with health insurance and retirement benefits. Given that most clean energy job opportunities do not require a bachelor’s degree and clean energy workers reported earning more than $50,000 a year, the energy efficiency sector is well-suited to provide underserved communities with financial stability for their families and economic development for the communities.
F. Cultivating New Markets and Entrepreneurs
Increased electrification, clean energy and energy efficiency measures are being pursued nationally and statewide to meet carbon reduction goals. The Empowerment Grant Program recognizes that advancing workforce development in underserved areas also unlocks new markets for energy efficiency projects in low- and moderate-income and small business communities. These new markets should be cultivated as a pertinent component of workforce planning. In addition to advancing workforce training and job placement, small businesses are encouraged to seize emerging new markets. The Empowerment Grant Program will also focus on entrepreneurship and supplier diversity pathways.
Top Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency
Jobs & Careers
To address the growing need for talent to support and/or manage smart buildings.
A Clean Energy Sector Workforce Roadmap
As an energy justice think and do tank, the Empowerment Grant Program is devoted to helping urban and rural overburdened and underrepresented communities benefit from the clean energy economy. The Empowerment Grant Program offers grants to support inventive workforce development approaches in fast-growing clean energy industries and fosters multi-sector collaboration for shaping policy and program planning. While we will develop a workforce development strategic plan as a roadmap for our multisector networks, we will also track proposed and implemented workforce development pipelines.