Green Jobs Guru Van Jones Named to Obama's Cabinet

Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet at 4:36 PM on March 10, 2009.

Score one for the good guys -- green jobs guru Van Jones has been named to Obama's Cabinet. At AlterNet we've been following his work for years (check out this post for a recap of stories by and about him). Jones has been instrumental in making "green jobs" and "green economy" household terms. He's brought people of every ethnic and economic background into the environment fold -- no small feat. It will be exciting to see how he builds coalitions and gets work done in Washington.

Jones will be handing over the reigns of Green For All, the organization he currently leads.

Here's the official word from his team:

On March 16, Van Jones will leave to become Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). His duties will include: helping to shape and implement job-generating climate policy; working to ensure equal protection and equal opportunity in the administration's climate and energy proposals; and publicly advocating the administration's environmental and energy agenda. New leadership for Green For All will come from Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins. A savvy champion for justice, Ellis-Lamkins has successfully expanded health-care access across California. She has also helped to raise the minimum wage for low-income families in the South Bay -- twice.

"Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is one of the nation's most brilliant, inspirational and creative problem solvers for working families," said Van Jones. "She has a proven track record of success. Under her leadership, Green For All will deliver on the promise of a green economy that is strong enough to lift people out of poverty."

Phaedra's many victories have won her wide praise. San Jose Magazine named Ellis-Lamkins one of the 100 most powerful people in Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley Business Journal called her one of "40 to watch under 40."
Ellis-Lamkins is presently the head of the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council and Working Partnerships USA. She will join Green For All this month as its Chief Executive Officer.

"I am thrilled and humbled to be joining Green For All, an organization whose exceptional reputation is exceeded only by the good work that it has accomplished," Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins said. "I see the work of Green For All as an antidote to fear and pessimism: a statement that we can tackle the difficult problems of poverty, quality employment and environmental sustainability."

"We couldn't be prouder of Van, Phaedra and Green For All," said James Rucker, Green For All board member and executive director of ColorofChange.org. Rucker added, "Van going to work for the Obama White House affirms three things: the quality of Green For All's accomplishments over the last fourteen months; the quality of Van's work over the last twenty years; and, the dedication of President Obama's White House to the vision of an inclusive green economy. Replacing Van with an exceptional leader like Phaedra just makes the whole thing even more extraordinary."

In its first fourteen months, Green For All has become an organization with a multi-million dollar annual budget, thirty-two staff members and an on-line network of 70,000 people. It has won a string of victories, most notably $500 million for green-job training as part of the $48 billion for job training and education in President Obama's Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The organization's other accomplishments include: hosting the 2008 Dream Reborn Conference in Memphis on the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination; leading the U.S. Conference of Mayors to endorse a green jobs pledge; and, in partnership with 1Sky and Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection, producing the September 27, 2008, "Green Jobs Now" day of action -- which resulted in rallies and events in all 50 states.
This year, Green For All will be focused on helping to ensure equal access to the money in the green aspects of Obama's recovery package, while winning jobs and justice in the upcoming federal climate legislation.

Tagged as: green economy, van jones, green jobs, green for all

Tara Lohan is a managing editor at AlterNet.