Sustainable Jobs & the Environment

In 2004, well before the idea of "green jobs" became a national phenomenon, the Sound Alliance and the Spokane Alliance, which are both affiliates of the IAF Northwest, secured their first sustainable jobs victory: They convinced Spokane Public Schools to adopt policies tying green building requirements with apprentice utilization standards—creating a pathway for at-risk students into green construction careers.

This green-jobs effort evolved into a project called SustainableWorks, which was launched in 2006 to establish an energy-efficiency retrofit market in the underserved small commercial and nonprofit sectors and, in the process, create quality jobs for local residents.

In 2008, the Sound Alliance began partnering with the Spokane Alliance to secure funding to expand SustainableWorks into the residential market and to scale it up to create a significant number of jobs.

Sound Alliance leaders also launched efforts at that time to establish a well-defined jobs pipeline between disadvantaged constituencies and union apprenticeship programs.  Their first victories involved negotiating agreements that provided two school districts with direct-entry slots for at-risk students into union apprenticeship programs.

In June 2008, the Alliances partnered to obtain a commitment from the Washington Senate Majority Leader to help raise funds for three 100-unit neighborhood-based retrofit projects.  In the following months, Alliance leaders met with 45 key legislators in their home districts and then sustained a four-month lobbying effort at the state Capitol.

In early May 2009,  Governor Christine Gregoire signed the legislation, putting $14.5 million of the state's stimulus funding into the Community Energy Efficiency Pilot program.  The bill's combination of high standards around both jobs and the environment sets a national precedent that Green for All has called "the most comprehensive and groundbreaking green jobs legislation of our time.”

Following passage of the legislation, the IAF Northwest spun SustainableWorks off into a separate but closely held nonprofit organization.  In October of 2009, it was awarded a $4 million grant to retrofit 1,800 homes in seven high-need neighborhoods across Washington state.

Most recently, Sound Alliance, in partnership with the Spokane Alliance and the Metropolitan Alliance for Common Good (Portland), are preparing to launch a package of Green and Equitable Economy Organizing initiatives to build a more diverse and durable base of organizations committed to making the transition to a broadly sustainable and low-carbon economy as quickly and equitably as possible.