Program trains unemployed for green jobs

Raymond Manuel has just two more checks coming, then next month his unemployment runs out.

The situation led Manuel, 37, a married father of three who was bundled in a puffy tan coat, to sit in the first chair of the front row in the gymnasium of the Dixon House on a recent afternoon for an orientation on a green-jobs training program.

The pilot program, held at the South Philadelphia social-service center, is part of a federal initiative to get people like Manuel, stuck in the mud of joblessness, outfitted for a new career and back to work.

The two-hour session began with a welcome by Mitch Little, deputy director of Diversified Community Services Inc., one of a half-dozen social-service agencies running the program. Standing in front of a projection screen, he tossed out words such as exciting, recycling, renewable, and sustainable.

Little conceded his spiel sounded like a "great infomercial," which earned a laugh. Then he turned serious.

"If you've ever felt you've been left out," Little said, "if you ever wished you had one more chance, here's an opportunity for you to create a sustainable future.

"It's rare that opportunity comes knocking on your door and in your community."

Fueled by $225,000 in federal stimulus money, the program hopes to recruit, train, and, by year's end, place 100 unemployed people in green jobs - weatherizing homes, installing solar panels, constructing green buildings.

The next two hours would reveal the hopes and needs of job seekers as they faced the hurdles of training for a new national workforce.

In the gym, Manuel sat with 20 others, mostly African American men, who have been hardest hit by joblessness in Philadelphia. In 2008, black male unemployment stood at 15 percent - and that was before the collapse of the job market. Most of these unemployed were between the ages of 25 and 54.

Altogether, four orientations last week drew 34 applicants. Some held advanced college degrees. Some were making their way in halfway houses.

For others, "when you've heard 'no' so many times," said Little, "to put your best foot forward, sometimes the barriers are already there. Some people are skeptical from the beginning."

Manuel, who lives in Southwest Philadelphia, has been out of work for a year, laid off from his $7.75-an-hour job doing kitchen prep work at the Palm restaurant in Center City.

He thought he had been making progress after his 2007 release from state prison, where he served eight years for armed robbery.