Supporting an Equitable Clean Energy Transition in New York State

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) oversees a multi-billion- dollar portfolio of programs aimed at accelerating the state’s clean energy transition, including $183 million for workforce development. Collectively, these programs will train or upskill more than 25,000 workers. 

For more than six years, Social Finance has worked hand-in-hand with NYSERDA to maximize the impact of its investments, especially in historically underserved communities. Social Finance has supported NYSERDA to assess its workforce development and training strategies, design and launch new funding programs, facilitate peer learning and technical assistance for its grantees, and build the data systems needed to understand long-term outcomes for trainees – all to meet New York’s ambitious climate goals.  

Goals

• Maximize the scale and impact of NYSERDA’s funding through partnerships, capacity-building, and tailored technical assistance.  
• Create pathways into family-sustaining wages for individuals who may experience barriers to employment.  
• Support the clean energy economy by building a qualified workforce that meets the needs of employers, especially small businesses. 
• Strengthen NYSERDA’s ability to understand and communicate the long-term employment and earnings outcomes of its workforce investments, while reducing the reporting burden on training providers. 

The Work

Mapping New York’s workforce system to identify challenges, develop solutions, and prioritize state investments.

• Conducted interviews with 35+ community-based organizations, training providers, and employers to understand successes and challenges in New York’s workforce landscape.
• Analyzed publicly available labor market information and programmatic data to validate and quantify these opportunities.
• Surveyed nationally for promising programs to address these challenges.
• Prioritized recommendations for NYSERDA decision-making based on agency and community goals.

Collaborating with other public and private funders to pilot new workforce development programs.

• Pay for Success Clean Energy Training: An $8.2 million partnership with the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Labor, as the first award under the Social Impact Partnerships to Pay for Results Act, to train more than 600 New Yorkers from low-income communities for careers in HVAC and other clean energy careers. 
• Climate Justice Fellowship Plus Program: A $3 million pilot with the 14th Congressional District in New York City to place individuals from select priority populations in two-year fellowships with nonprofit employers that advance climate justice and clean energy priorities. Fellows receive work-based learning, access to supportive services, and professional development. 

Curating support for current grantees through communities of practice and technical assistance.

• Analyzed the performance of training providers under the Pay for Success Clean Energy Training project and facilitated a quarterly community of practice. Training providers have shared adaptations they have taken to their recruitment, enrollment, training, and placement strategies. Results have improved over time; for instance, the project’s program completion rate increased from 50% for its first cohorts to over 90% for its latest cohorts.  
• Launched a new Career Pathways community of practice for NYSERDA’s Energy Efficiency and Clean Technology Training providers. More than 15 community colleges, nonprofit organizations, and other organizations are currently participating.   

Understanding the long-term impact of public workforce investments on new workers and the clean energy sector. 

• Designing a Longitudinal Data Analysis (LDA): Supporting NYSERDA to launch an LDA of its $30M Career Pathways program, which anticipates training 4,000 new workers who face systemic barriers to employment. Social Finance worked with stakeholders across the agency and the broader workforce system to create a shared learning agenda and set of guiding questions..  
• Refreshing grantee reporting to unlock new insights: Redesigning the agency’s quarterly reporting process, moving from aggregate numbers to individual-level data on trainee progress that will inform key policy questions, including data on certifications and services accessed. 
• Using administrative data to understand long-term employment: Helping NYSERDA set up data-sharing agreements and internal infrastructure to store and link trainee data with Unemployment Insurance (UI) wage records. These records cover more than 90% of workers in the state, so the analysis can follow trainees’ careers before and after training without adding to grantee reporting burden. 
• Promoting shared learning: Turning LDA findings into aggregate data dashboards for training providers and helping grantees use those insights to improve their programs, through the Career Pathways community of practice. Providers will learn which credentials and services drive outsized outcomes and can use the evidence to both improve programs and make the case for continued funding. 

The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation generously supports Social Finance’s work with NYSERDA. The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s properties.