This discussion paper describes a new national initiative to significantly increase the quantity and improve the quality of U.S. manufacturing jobs related to the production of rail cars, clean buses and component parts used to operate public transit in the United States. The initiative will build on successful community, business and governmental efforts over the past 10 years to create a greener and more sustainable U.S. fleet of public buses and rail cars and to increase the overall local, state and federal investment in public transit. The paper includes a discussion of challenges to and a roadmap for increasing opportunities for training, workforce development and the creation of high road clean transit manufacturing jobs for unskilled workers and disadvantaged communities across the U.S.
Contributors to this paper:
Madeline Janis, Esq. & Linda Nguyen-Perez
Helen Chin, Shawn Escoffery, and Michelle Knapick, The Surdna Foundation
Robert Puentes, Brookings Institution
Brian Lombardozzi, Blue-Green Alliance
Kevin Brubaker, Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC)