Stephen Levin (Solar One) on green workforce development and building management engagement

Good afternoon, Chairs Maloney and Juan.

My name is Stephen Levin.

I'm CEO of Solar One, a nonprofit organization which focuses on addressing the climate crisis through K-12 environmental education, green workforce development, renewable energy technical assistance for affordable housing, and the stewardship of Stuyvesant Cove Park in Councilmember Maloney's district,

in which we just opened our new environmental education center.

Our office is in Councilmember Juan's district in Long Island City.

I've been honored to serve on the Green Economy Advisory Council for the last two years, which has helped to guide the beginning phase of the implementation of the Green Economy Action Plan.

Members of the Advisory Council came to the process with the goal of increasing our understanding of the challenges and opportunities that the clean energy transition provides.

And as you can imagine, having first met in late 2024, the landscape for clean energy has been ever-shifting nationally since then, and not in a good way.

The Trump administration's singular focus on thwarting renewable energy has been tragically self-defeating for our country, and it continues to set us back in our fight to save our futures every day.

That said, I commend EDC for continuing to focus on what we can do here in New York City with projects like Batworks, Blue Highway Action Plan, and advancing the plan for the Brooklyn Marine Terminal.

In addition, the advisory council focused on an issue that is a core part of Solar One's mission, readying the green workforce of tomorrow with the skills that they need today.

Along with our partner organizations who have been represented here today, like NYC ETC, Solar One has made great strides in the field of green workforce development.

At our Long Island City,

In Workforce Training Center, we have four classrooms where we are teaching adults who are facing barriers to employment in green building operations and maintenance, green construction, plumbing, electrical, solar installation, building decarbonization, HVAC installation, and maintenance.

Each year, we graduate around 800 individuals from our program, and each of those individuals carries with them approximately three professional certifications.

There are many initiatives underway that you've heard about, but I would like to, if I was to choose one to see the city focus on, it would be engaging with the universe of building management firms to engage in a robust and sustained way with the

green workforce development providers to both ensure that the skills that we are teaching in an ever-evolving environment are meeting the needs of employers.

Including with building automation technologies, and that there's an ongoing partnership with green workforce providers and unions like 32BJ and Local 3 to ensure that there's a pipeline of candidates for the tens of thousands of jobs in New York City in the green economy over the next decades.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for your testimony.

And lastly, we have one testimony over Zoom, Vinny Dong.

Thank you.