New Mexico gets $1.5 million grant for Energy Transition Workforce Equity

(The Center Square) - The Families and Workers Fund picked the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions' Energy Transition Workforce Equity project as one of its 14 recipients of the Powering Climate and Infrastructure Careers Challenge.

The recipients were selected from more than 450 applications, according to a press release from the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions.

The Energy Transition Workforce Equity project aims to expand New Mexico's clean energy workforce.

"The new project will include systemic, coordinated, and regular convenings of a diverse, comprehensive, representative partnership of employers, educational institutions, community-based organizations, state agencies, and policymakers," the release said.

The program aims to develop and expand training programs to help give people the skills they need to get clean energy infrastructure jobs. It also plans to create pathways for what it calls underrepresented groups to get these jobs.

The grant aims to help the state properly utilize incoming funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure law to support clean energy sectors.

The three-year grant is split between Department funding and in-kind technical assistance.

“Governor Lujan Grisham has made expanding a workforce ready to tackle the challenges of clean energy and climate resilience a top priority," NMDWS Cabinet Secretary Sarita Nair said in the release. “This grant will strengthen the state’s ability to prepare New Mexicans for sustainable job opportunities throughout the state and in tribal communities by supporting clean energy infrastructure development. We are excited to bring businesses, education partners, and communities together to expand high-impact training programs and job-ready skills development in the clean energy infrastructure field.”

The Powering Climate & Infrastructure Careers Challenge hopes to support state and municipal government, education and training providers, plus community organizations actively involved with clean energy and infrastructure transition.

“Preparing workers for the jobs that will be essential for the clean energy transition is critical to both our efforts to combat climate change and promote economic development in New Mexico," Melanie Kenderdine, Secretary-Designate of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.

Environment Department Secretary James Kenney expressed a similar sentiment.

“Many see the battle against the effects of climate change as an environmental effort, but it’s also an opportunity for economic development,” Kenney said.