Dear Permaculture trainer
Hi, my name is Arabie Jaloway. I’m an environment and sustainability
consultant currently working with a sustainability committee sponsored by
the Pierce County, WA WorkForce Development Council (WDC). I am
responsible for assisting the committee with “sustainable workforce
development.” I’m sure I don’t need to tell you what a hall of mirrors
discussing sustainability with industry and politicos can be, but the
group has made some progress on recognizing that business as usual cannot
continue and have directed me to explore new directions for workforce
training.
Two months ago, I started the wheels turning on an application for a small
amount of public funding ($35,000) for the WDC’s work (The money is
federal, but granted through the Washington State Workforce Training and
Education Coordinating Board- WTECB).
I chose to apply for these funds in concert with our county’s sole
Permaculture provider, an extremely bright and capable young woman named
Kelda Miller, who runs the Divine Earth Garden Project. If awarded, 2/3
of the money will go directly to her company to support training through
her permaculture design certification course.
I won’t bore you with the details of what happens when the concept of
permaculture meets a bureaucracy still holding on to the notion that
“Growth will fix everything,” and very unwilling to consider the
possibility that economic and workforce development need to change
tack.... but it’s been an interesting ride. Thanks in large part to the
competence of Kelda and her network of support, however, we’ve shot the
rapids and it looks like we will be able to secure this funding (after
many requests for more information and justification, of course!
)
There is one last snag, and that’s where you come in.
The money we’ve applied for is WIA (workforce investment act) money, and
the WTECB (the grantors) say we need to provide some information on
previous permaculture training outcomes. They’re hopping to get folks off
of the unemployment rolls, so if we can demonstrate that permaculture,
without any other advanced training, is a viable means to get people
employed, we’re good.
It is also valuable if we can demonstrate that permaculture helps people
get better jobs/ improve demand for their talents.
The problem is that most permaculture trainers don’t bother with
spreadsheets and columns of numbers to track employment outcomes and other
WIA-type data. I’ve created a survey that covers what we need- if you
could please distribute it to any students you have contact info for and
explain the need, it would of immeasurable help to us.
Our county is not what you’d call environmentally progressive- getting
public support for permaculture would be a much bigger win than the money
for us. Please help us if you can by getting this survey out to any and
everyone that you know whose taken permaculture training.
The survey can be accessed at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RJCYGX6 Pacific Northwest
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RWJXJMZ Rest of US
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RX2B8LG International
Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions, concerns,
comments, kudos... anything!
PLEASE NOTE- We are on an extremely tight deadline and can only use
responses we receive by Wednesday April 20.
Cheers,
Arabie
PS- Of course, if you are a permaculture provider who’s kept records on
education levels and employment before and after training, getting that
data directly from you would be fantastic!
Arabie Jaloway-Hill
Senior Environment & Sustainability Consultant
MSc Environment, Politics & Globalisation (Kings College, London) & BS
Environmental Science
Full World Consulting LLC
Email:
arabie.jaloway-hill@fullworldconsulting.com Web: www.fullworldconsulting.com
USA Direct: +1 360.529.1458
Europe: +44 (0)20 8144 5245
