Permaculture Planet - The Planetary Permaculture Forum -> Quoting a Post in $35,000 of Government Funding

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Sally Anne Jakes	Posted on Apr 21 2011, 08:33 AM
	Fantastic to see some government money going to a good cause for a change.
Permoderator	Posted on Apr 20 2011, 10:03 AM
	> Hi, my name is Arabie Jaloway. I’m an environment and sustainability consultant currently working with a sustainability committee sponsored by the WorkForce Development Council, a government agency in Pierce County, WA, USA. 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, the money will go to support training through her permaculture design certification course. I think it is exactly the sort of training that will lead to true sustainability for our local workforce. > > 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 US federal 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, but the main thing we need is to show a connection between permaculture training alone and employment.) > > 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 are willing, please distribute it to any students you have contact info for and explain the need. This 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. I am not aware of anyone in the Pacific Northwest or indeed the US who has secured public monies for this type of training. Please help us if you can by getting this survey out to any and everyone that you know who's taken permaculture training and might be willing to participate. > > The survey can be accessed at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RX2B8LG. For More info - Email: arabie.jaloway-hill(at)fullworldconsulting.com

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