Lifting all boats

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins

Any new job has its learning curve. But when Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, the recently-appointed CEO of green job advocacy organization Green For All, started her new gig, she stepped into a flurry of activity as government, business and other groups compete for billions of stimulus dollars and sort out in-the-works legislation.

Plus, she had some pretty big shoes to fill: Ellis-Lamkins was handed the Green For All baton by the organization’s founder Van Jones, who was tapped as the Obama administration’s green jobs advisor in March.

Before joining Green For All, Ellis-Lamkins led the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council and Silicon Valley-based labor advocacy nonprofit, Working Partnerships USA. In addition to pushing for living wage policies and heath care access, through Working Partnerships, Ellis-Lamkins worked to include green jobs in worker training programs.

Oakland, Calif.-based Green For All, which aims to bring green jobs to disadvantaged communities, isn’t receiving any of the estimated $59 billion in stimulus funds expected to go toward clean energy projects. But Ellis-Lamkins adds the group is hard at work influencing others to drive those dollars to the creation of middle-class jobs and training opportunities.

Sustainable Industries caught up with Ellis-Lamkins while she was in Washington, D.C., getting the Green for All message out among lawmakers working on the budget and energy bill, and meeting with labor and community groups.

SI: You’ve joined Green For All at a very auspicious time, how are things going so far?
PEL: Things are going well. This is a moment when the country is ready to reinvest in rebuilding the economy, and we need to make sure that they do it in a way that builds opportunity and helps the environment. Now is the time when the rubber meets road.