Chester Man Benefits From Free Solar Training in Philly’s Growing ‘Green’ Market

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Image via Michael Bryant Staff Photographer Philadelphia Inquirer.

It’s all part of Czar McMichael Bey’s plan: Graduate from one of Philadelphia’s solar training programs, find a job in the growing industry, and then in 10 years, open his own company, writes Ellie Rushing for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The 20-year-old from Chester made the first part of his dream happen late last month. Bey had his first job interview with an installer after he joined 27 adults in graduating from a free eight-week training course that teaches people how to install solar photovoltaic panels onto roofs.

Bey saw the program offered by the Philadelphia Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) for unemployed and underemployed people, as a way to combine his environmental interests with an in-demand job.

Bey still faces challenges with transportation to work, but he’s pretty amped up. “They say one person can’t change the world, but I can try to give it a nudge,” he said.

This training, one of two opportunities for low income Philadelphians to learn the trade, aims to shrink the energy industry’s workforce divide while adding to its growing solar installation workforce — identified as the nation’s fastest growing occupation in a recent report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Read more about Bey here.

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