Travis Prew (Fordham University) on Bronx Green Job Center
Travis Prew of Fordham University describes the Bronx Green Job Center as a collaborative model with educational partners, community agencies, and CBOs. He notes the Bronx lags in solar and EV infrastructure despite being the greenest borough, and urges a citywide investment strategy requiring collaboration and a centralized workforce authority.
Thank you, Chair Maloney.
Chair Wan, good to see you.
I'm Travis Prew.
I'm Vice President for External Affairs at Fordham University.
I have the privilege of creating and ultimately launching what's going to be the Bronx Green Job Center, which you heard a little bit about today.
Really important conversation right now, especially in light of the federal and the state setbacks that you mentioned, Chair Wan.
Environmental justice is a moral imperative quarter.
Our Jesuit values at Fordham University, and for us the mission is deeply local.
Our Rose Hill campus is anchored in a community that's historically faced some of the highest poverty rates in the nation, as well as
born the brunt of disproportionate and severe environmental injustice.
And while New York City's green economy is rapidly expanding, growth is bypassing the Bronx and many of the communities in outer boroughs.
The disconnect is striking in the Bronx because we are the greenest borough, we are the youngest borough, and we have a legacy of community leaders who have driven citywide environmental action for decades.
Yet the borough lags significantly in solar and electric vehicle infrastructure.
Our community gardens remain...
strained by a lack of scale and support.
And the real crisis, however, is the lack of investment in people.
Fordham bears a responsibility to convene stakeholders around a shared vision, any strategy for environmental justice, and with the partnership and guidance of EDC,
UDC over the last year and a half, we've developed a collaborative public-private blueprint known as the Bronx Green Job Center, which is a partner-based model across three key areas.
One is educational partners, so bringing in CUNY and SUNY to join with us in the delivery of curriculum.
Two, communities and public agencies so that we ensure there's actually hiring pathways for trainees once they leave our work.
And three, the community-based organizations that we know are trusted in the community that can provide that enrollment funnel and the wraparound services that folks need to succeed.
So within my testimony, there are three specific areas that we have learned as part of this process that we urge action on.
One is implementing a citywide investment strategy that requires collaboration, including CBOs, as well as establishing a centralized workforce authority within the mayor's office.
I'd be happy to answer any additional questions that you have.