Calling upon our state and local leaders to use American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to create a roadmap that includes solutions that recognize and address workforce and wage inequities and builds opportunities for everyone, not just a select few.

Whereas

, This government's focus has been on crime reduction, relief from high electricity bills, moratoriums on residential foreclosure sales, reintegration of ex-offenders, strategies to combat pay inequities, and unemployment to otherwise create a resilient community; and

Whereas

, This City adopted Resolution 080689 on September 18, 2008 that supported the Local Government Green Jobs Pledge and has expressed its desire to promote the proliferation of green jobs as a means of achieving economic and environmental benefits that will uplift our citizens from poverty; and

Whereas

, On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) that seeks to help this nation's citizenry during this time of deep economic recession; and

Whereas

, This Commonwealth has signed on to receive $10.4 billion in economic stimulus support that includes at the minimum a list of projects totaling $2.8 billion for Philadelphia; and

Whereas

, Both this Commonwealth and this City have made commitments and released comprehensive plans to reduce energy consumption, green public spaces, expand recycling, invest in transit-oriented developments, cleanup Superfund sites, fund upgrades in municipal waste, and invest in clean energy; and

Whereas

, Analysis reveals that economic, educational, and racial/ethnic inequalities are profound and non-white residents suffer far more than their proportional share of economic and social hardships with unemployment being a significant problem; and that individuals and communities are campaigning for improvements in their own neighborhood; and

Whereas

, Green collar jobs are blue collar jobs in green businesses because they are manual labor jobs in businesses whose products and services directly improve environmental quality representing an important new category of workforce opportunities and they are “pathways out of poverty” because they are relatively high quality jobs that provide workers with meaningful, community serving work, living wages, benefits and advancement opportunities with relatively low barriers to entry in sectors poised for dramatic growth; and

Whereas

, Both the Commonwealth and the City have made commitments and released comprehensive plans to reduce energy consumption, green public spaces, expand recycling, invest in transit-oriented developments, cleanup Superfund sites, fund upgrades in municipal waste, and invest in clean energy; now therefore

Resolved, by the Council of the City of Philadelphia,

That Council calls upon our state and local leaders to use American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to create a roadmap that includes solutions that recognize and address workforce and wage inequities and builds opportunities for everyone, not just a select few.

End