Come to Ohio - for the green collar jobs

Promoting places isn’t exactly an easy job, as the individuals – no doubt with an excellent sense of humour – who came up with the slogans of “Skegness – it’s so bracing” or “live in Kent, be content” can tell you. (Anyone who lived in some of Kent’s darker reaches will obviously point out that the second half of the slogan – “if you get home with both kidneys and your nose not smeared across your face” – is missing, but hey ho.

It seems green business could well be the latest thing for promoting places if this press release from the “Ohio Business Development Coalition (OBDC), the nonprofit organization that markets the state for capital investment” is anything to go by. Greenbang reprints the highlights here for your reading pleasure:

Ohio is pioneering the development of “green collar” workers, a growing number of skilled professionals who use their talents to improve the emerging advanced energy industry. A recent report released by the American Solar Energy Society, funded by the Ohio Department of Development, predicted that 174,000 Ohioans could have jobs related to advanced, renewable energy by 2030.

According to the Ohio Business Development Coalition (OBDC), the nonprofit organization that markets the state for capital investment, Ohio’s universities and colleges are gearing up to meet the need for skilled green collar workers through new programs, degrees and training specific to the advanced energy industry.

One example of an educational institution rising to the occasion is Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio. The college was recently awarded a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration to build an innovative learning facility. The Hocking College Energy Institute will feature modern learning labs for students studying in the college’s energy programs.

“This state-of-the-art facility is truly a place where students will receive hands on training in advanced energy,” said Jerry Hutton, dean of energy and transportation technologies for Hocking College. “Training skilled workers is critical to attracting renewable energy companies to Ohio and recharging the state’s manufacturing base.”

Greenbang is dusting off her green collar shirt and booking her flight as we speak.