Gowanus Green Team: Preparing Young Apprentices For ‘Green Jobs’

On Wednesday morning, the Gowanus Canal Conservancy and Council Member Brad Lander launched the Gowanus Green Team, a training program that prepares young adults for “green jobs.”

With $50,000 in funding provided by the New York City Council’s “Greener NYC” initiative, the Gowanus Green Team program will provide paid job opportunities in the Gowanus Canal watershed to young residents of the Gowanus Houses, Wyckoff Gardens, and Warren Street Houses public housing developments.

Gowanus Green Team prepares five selected apprentices for careers in New York City’s growing environmental job sector. The program will develop the youth apprentices’ communication and collaboration skills as well as train them for positions in green infrastructure management, horticulture, urban forestry, and recycling. It will also educate participants about urban environmental issues in Gowanus and other areas.

The program will run for six weeks with one crew leader directing the team. The apprentices will develop their skills via classroom lessons and hands-on field training sessions, which will include working with partner organizations as well as field trips around the city to learn about parks and restoration areas.

The Green Team is currently working on projects throughout the Gowanus watershed as well as at the Gowanus Canal Conservancy’s Nursery, a community farm in Red Hook, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the 6th Street Green Corridor.

The team will also maintain neighborhood parks, including Washington Park, Thomas Greene Playground, and Ennis Playground.

“Together, we are making Gowanus a model for sustainability, resiliency, and environmental justice, following many decades of environmental abuse and neglect,” Council Member Lander said in a statement​. “By employing young people from our community, by giving them job-skills for the future, and by making Gowanus greener, we’re investing in what matters.”