Good, green jobs conference planning

I attended another planning meeting this evening for an October conference on good, green jobs. The conference is aiming to pull together environmentalists, community leaders and unionists to strategize around building a movement for good green jobs in the greater Toronto area. The conference and green jobs committee developed from the Good Jobs for All coalition conference held last fall, attended by over 1,000 people.

The agenda and planning is coming along well and I'm learning a lot and meeting new people.

This evening there was a speaker from the Mayors Tower Renewal program. He informed us about the pilot project running in 6 apartment buildings in four parts of the city - Kipling/Finch, Peanut Plaza, St. Jamestown and in Scarborough.

There are many challenges, not the least of which are finding willing apartment owners, providing local training & employment to local youth, and trying to develop local economies through local procurement of materials for the projects.