It’s graduation season, and tassels are being turned in high schools, community colleges, vocational programs and universities all over the South Bay. This year, a friend of mine who I first met seven years ago when he was locked up in the max unit of juvenile hall (I was giving writing workshops through a program called “The Beat Within”) got his high school diploma and is now taking classes at De Anza College. He was the kind of youngster that was always quick witted, which probably got him more trouble than anything else, but this year, his gift for gab was rewarded, and he was the commencement speaker at his graduation. He was even on the evening news when they did a segment on graduations, which was a bit of redemption for him since the last time he was on TV, he was kicking in a newspaper stand during Mardi Gras years ago.

Growth happens and often times it is a just a question of when. His backpack is now filled with books and binders rather than the beer bottles that used to occupy that space, and for the first time, he talks about his future more than his past. But graduates like my friend are also stepping into an economy that may not match his optimism. Recession and high unemployment are there to welcome young people into the real world. Reading the papers, it is a bit of déjà vu of the period right after the dot com crash, which made for difficult times for experienced, educated workers, and impossible times for young workers. Entry-level workers, usually 18-24 years old, had to compete with older, more heavily resuméd workers who were facing layoffs in their workplaces. We are starting to see these same trends, and a visit to the mall to see who’s working the registers evidences the squeeze.

But different from the post dot-com meltdown, are the potential job growth opportunities that are waiting in the horizon. Environmental needs have created industries that need workers from all strata of the economy, and San Jose can be on the forefront of the green-collar job movement. A commitment to green-collar jobs can be an investment in a new generation of young workers. The alignment of market needs, capital, workforce, educational facilities and environmental consciousness could not be better than right here, right now.

A couple of weeks ago some of the crew at De-Bug did a tour of an E-Bay facility that just equipped their site with hundreds of solar panels, enough to produce up to 18 percent of its energy needs. The aim is to eventually be self sustaining. They are also giving a discount to all employees that want solar paneling. E-Bay says companies are all vying for the number-one slot for having the most environmentally efficient campus. Somebody has to build and install these panels. And they are only a portion of what is being called for as industries and cities go green. Just like the assembly, manufacturing and delivery jobs of the high-tech era, workers will be needed to install solar panels, build at green construction firms, and develop the new ways to derive environmentally-friendly energy. All of these workers can be local if they are the ones trained to do the jobs.

The national trends are already supporting green job initiatives, with Congress having passed an energy bill that included $125 million for green-collar job training. Just up I-880 in Oakland, they launched a program with a $250,000 seed grant from the city, aimed to train at-risk youth from Oakland’s poorest neighborhoods job-readiness skills and give them apprenticeships at “green businesses,” including solar installation, alternative fuel and green construction firms. The jobs would pay $10.39 per hour plus health benefits, or $11.95 per hour without benefits. Another difference from the green-collar jobs versus the blue-collar jobs of the high-tech industries is that we can ensure that they are quality, sustainable jobs. Thousands of low-wage jobs in the high-tech industries had sub-livable wages, no job security, and no vertical mobility. They also had no union presence at all. Unions who desperately need a foothold in newer economies, as well as a connection with younger workers, could come in at the ground floor of this growth, and ensure quality jobs.

Outside of the economic rationale of investing in a latent pool of workers, is the social reality. We have juvenile hall rates that have surpassed “maximum capacity,” an escalating problem with gang violence, and reports of increasing dropout rates in under-served schools. These are young people who can be contributors rather than detractors. And for folks like my friend who went from “the hall” to the halls of a college campus, it is a way to meet him half way, to let him know there is some investment in his possibilities. Nothing takes the wind out of people more than when they change their life around to “do the right thing” and don’t feel like it made a difference. There is perhaps no better violence prevention program for young adults than a job with a future.