This program is expected to create 14,000 jobs statewide as demand for contractors rises.
Watch video of how this program helped in Flint Michigan
Who's eligible for the program?
• To be eligible for the Weatherization Assistance Program, a family's income must be no more than $45,312 for a family of four.
• Since the program, have enough money to provide service to all eligible households, priority is given to households with elderly people, children under 18 years old, people with disabilities or medical problems that weatherization services can address, and Home Energy Assistance Program recipients with extremely high energy use or certain other high needs.
The state plans to give the money to local community groups and government agencies who are tripling their normal allocation, state officials said. Those groups are hiring workers and planning to subcontract work, which is leading to a large increase in activity for a training center in East Syracuse that teaches contractors how to do this kind of work.
Twenty-five people a week attend classes at the new training center, which features mock home ceilings, floors and exterior walls for students to practice the skills they are taught in a classroom.
Matthew Redmond, director of training for the association, said he is seeing more people with construction backgrounds coming through the center — an indication of how the poor economy has slowed the construction industry.
“We’re even getting some college grads,” he said. “They need a job and they know this is going to be work for at least two and a half years.”
No one really knows if the new jobs will be around after that.
“We’re all a little concerned about post-stimulus,” Stone said. “But as long as fuel costs stay high, we are hoping there’s going to be a groundswell for the green economy. We’ve been wasteful for far too long in this country, and it needs to stop.”
The weatherization work saves homeowners an average of 20 to 30 percent on their energy costs because low-income families tend to live in older, poorly insulated housing, he said.
Neadom Walton, 45, of Rochester, came to the training center hoping to start a new career after he was laid off from Kodak and tried a short stint selling DVDs and T-shirts.“I love it,” he said. “I’m helping people who can’t afford to get their house insulated. I see this as a career — the type you can retire from.”
Source Article:
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/stimulus_dollars_for_weatheriz.html
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