Preparing the Next Generation of Union Workers for the Clean Energy Economy
March 2026
In mid-February, the Climate Jobs Institute (CJI) team members Lyndsay Gehring, Emilie Slater, and Daniel Castro facilitated a two-day pilot of CJI’s clean energy curriculum for fifteen pre-apprentices in the latest Pathways to Apprenticeship (P2A) cohort. This group was P2A’s first cohort of 2026 and marks the third time CJI has partnered with P2A to deliver the training.
P2A operates full-time, five-week direct-entry pre-apprenticeship programs in New York City, historically focused on recruiting and supporting justice-involved, low-income, and public housing residents. Since its founding in 2013, P2A has helped hundreds of people from low-income communities gain entry into Building Trades apprenticeship programs, creating pathways to family-sustaining union careers in the construction industry.
The clean energy curriculum engages participants in discussions and group activities focused on environmental justice and climate change, while illustrating the role that multiple construction trades unions play in responding to the climate crisis and building a more sustainable economy.
CJI will continue refining the curriculum and plans to expand its delivery to additional programs within the Apprenticeship Readiness Collective (ARC). To support this effort, CJI will host a two-day Train-the-Trainer with instructors from Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW) and P2A in mid-March to build facilitators’ capacity to deliver the curriculum.
P2A will celebrate the latest cohorts who participated in the training at a graduation ceremony on March 19 at the Cornell ILR NYC Conference Center in Midtown Manhattan.
