RETI Solar Workforce Program
Training today's workforce for tommorow's climate solutions
Who Is reti?
RETI (Resilence, Education Training, Innovation) is a non-profit organization based in Red Hook, Brooklyn, whose main focus is to deliver climate solutions and build pipelines for a clean and sustainable energy economy. They work towards strengthening climate resilience in neighborhoods by addressing environmental injustice and creating green career pathways.
One of the main audiences they serve is low income and public housing residents and support agencies such as NYCHA. They provide people with the guidance they need to break into solar jobs and green technology, ultimately, achieving their vision of promoting social responsibility, sustainable infrastructure, and innovative design to our ever changing climate.
The need for change
Red Hook has been highly vulnerable to large volumes of flooding due to its geographical location on the coastal front, surrounded by a large body of water. In 2012, when hurricane Sandy hit, it had caused significant flooding and severe damage into the infrastructure posing hardships for this community. Overtime rising sea levels and climate change has deeply increased flooding problems causing significant challenges for the community.
One of the biggest issues surrounding the area is the Gowanus Canal which contains lots of industrial waste and sewage causing a super toxic site for locals. With Red Hook serving a large population of low income and NYCHA public housing residents, they have faced a lot of environmental injustice due to the growing pollution around their environment and lack of resources and support.
RETI was determined to take a stand and get people into the green initiative. They wanted to create a curriculum that would introduce training and certification prep to get people jobs in renewable energy and green construction. That's when the RETI center turned to Cambio to aid in designing a curriculum that was not only educational but also engaging.
Building Together
Moving away from traditional learning styles, RETI utilized Cambio Labs’ gamified learning platform, Journey, to help digitize and create an appealing learning experience for its students. Together Cambio and RETI formed a unique 3-week program that taught theory, solar power, renewable energy, environmental infrastructure, and much more. To achieve this, Journey was used to create meaningful prompts, design challenges, and interactive learning.
One highlight of this program was its blend of a virtual learning experience and a hands-on experience. Students were able to receive information from Journey, while also verifying their learnings by going out in the real world and applying that knowledge. Exercises such as identifying a solar array were taken a step further to allow real world application by letting students go out and locate those parts on rooftops as well as mapping out and measuring spaces out around them. These thought provoking lessons accelerated workforce development and highly equipped these individuals for what to expect out in the field.
Lasting Impact & future
By the end of this program students were able to get certified in green construction through the GPRO certification, as well as OSHA certified. Boosting their employability chances and setting the seeds for a career in the green sector. RETI was able to provide mentorship and workshops to connect these students to employers. Through this several students were able to successfully secure jobs within the workforce taking their first steps for a long term career in sustainability.
Additionally they received certification in entrepreneurship and received an opportunity to form green business pitches to help build sustainable infrastructure. Some ideas included such as kelp farms and educational programs to promote the idea of sustainable energy. While others proposed ideas to help the Red Hook community by building a seawall for flood and storm emergencies. As well as pitching emergency power services for blackouts and storm relief services for the area, reflecting a full circle moment of giving back to the community.
Through this partnership RETI was able to continue this program training over 120 students, and increasing its network of green partnerships with their organization. Building on these successful pilots, RETI was able to secure a Con Edison grant of $1 million to continue investing in this meaningful work and foster more climate resilience and development. Looking forward, RETI’s future goals involve scaling this program to more areas and expanding their curriculum to serve more communities, with the vision of building a more inclusive, sustainable, and greener future.
Have questions or want to learn more about Journey? Contact us today to book a demo call with our team of experts.