Help us pass legislation for EE this year!
Thank you to everyone who has advocated for the Climate Change and Ocean Protection Workforce Development & Education Program bills in the recent weeks.
These bills are RIEEA’s key legislative priorities and we need your help to get them passed! Help us advocate for $1 million in funding to provide our youth with the skills and knowledge they need to be competitive in the growing green and blue economies. As we near the finish line, we have one more request for support:
Can you spare ~10 minutes to email AND call the following people and tell them to support the Climate Change and Ocean Protection Workforce Development and Education Program Acts? You can send one email to all 7 people. Calls usually take no more than a minute each. Be sure to include the bill numbers (S-551 & S-558 / H-6105 & H-6106) and share a personal experience, either as a provider/educator or a participant, in environmental education programming as well as the fact that passing these bills now will position Rhode Island to take advantage of federal funding!
- Your state senator (identify them here and find their contact information here)
- Your state representative (identify them here and find their contact information here)
- Speaker Shekarchi – 401-222-2466, rep-shekarchi@rilegislature.gov
- House Finance Chair Abney – 401-222-8028, rep-abney@rilegislature.gov
- Senate President Ruggerio – 401-222-6655, sen-ruggerio@rilegislature.gov
- Senate Finance Chair DiPalma – 401-847-8540, sen-dipalma@rilegislature.gov
- Governor McKee – 401-222-2080, governor@governor.ri.gov
More information here:
The Rhode Island Climate Change and Ocean Protection Workforce Development and Education Program Acts (S-551 & S-558 / H-6105 & H-6106) will create opportunities to provide educational programming and workforce training for a climate-resilient Rhode Island, including career exploration, apprenticeships, career and technical education, field experiences, and more! Each bill calls for $500,000 of grants for community partnerships to provide this essential programming – and the timing is perfect because the federal government is investing heavily in workforce development for the green and blue economies! You can learn more about these bills here, or in the 1-page info document here.
We have a chance to pass these bills this session, but only if our legislators know that this is important to their constituents!
It is only when people speak up that real change can happen! Join with us to make sure that our emerging workforce is prepared for the growing green and blue economies.