As part of the bill that passed in February of 2009, the Green Jobs Training Act allocated $500 million in education for green collar jobs of the future. As part of that package, $150 million was in “Pathways out of Poverty” grants for “cohesive programs that will help target populations find pathways out of poverty and into economic self sufficiency through employment in the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries.”

Green jobs training programs for certain individuals are covered under the grants that are specified for certain populations that are eligible to receive the grants. Those would include unemployed individuals, high school dropouts, individuals with criminal records and disadvantaged individuals within areas of high poverty.

The initial reception has been good, however, not all that grant money has been used. Many of the critics have said that it is slow to be communicated to those that qualify under the program. In many cases, it pays for 100% of tuition and books and is a great opportunity for workers to get a higher paying job in a growing market that is expected to have stability for many years to come.

As the push for green jobs training programs has come from the Federal government, they have also provided funding on State levels, where many of the colleges and universities can receive additional funding for adding the “green” curriculum to their degree courses.

Because the anticipated need for green collar workers could be as high as 37 million, the government is hoping that this initiative will be the ticket out of the present economic nightmare and put many under-qualified individuals on a new footing in a high demand job sector where they can receive annual average salaries in excess of $95,000. Many of those in poverty levels will find themselves with a much brighter future.

The Pathways out of Poverty grants are included in a summary from the Department of Labor and the green jobs initiative is being administered by the ETA, the Employment and Training Administration, which is part of the US Department of Labor. The Pathways out of Poverty grant portion has been attributed to the new Secretary of Labor, Solis.

Prior to this newest $500 million funding program, the previous Administration had approved $125 million in 2007. This had little effect and not much was changed. Once fuel prices started their dramatic rise, there was a push for more funding to become less reliant on foreign countries for our energy needs.

Vice President Biden recently stated in a summit in Philadelphia that the green jobs training programs would see $20 per hour workers start making $50 per hour after completion. If this is true, the Pathways out of Poverty grants will be a good investment in helping those people out of poverty that don’t see anything promising in their future. Of course, it is believed that the total stimulus package will encourage enough future job growth and energy independence that it will also be part of our country’s “pathway out of poverty”, too.