WORCESTER, Mass. (WWLP) - The Healey-Driscoll Administration awarded more than $7 million in grants to expand the clean energy and climatetech workforce across Massachusetts.
The investment will support 17 organizations through four specialized grant programs focusing on training, equipment, and career awareness. The funding arrives as the climatetech sector employs nearly 163,000 people statewide.
"Massachusetts is leading the nation in clean energy and climatetech, and that leadership depends on a strong, skilled workforce," said Governor Maura Healey. "These investments will connect residents across the state to good-paying careers while helping employers meet growing demand. We are building a clean energy economy that creates opportunity in every region and real jobs for Massachusetts workers."
The funding is distributed through four distinct grant programs. The Equity Training Implementation program awarded more than $2.6 million to six organizations:
- Action for Equity / Green Equity Partnership ($1,200,000)
- Action for Equity / Opening Doors to Inclusion ($250,000)
- Holyoke Community College ($455,000)
- Greater Lawrence Technical School ($150,000)
- Home Energy Efficiency Team Inc. ($450,000)
- Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges ($120,000)
These funds support training pathways into climate-critical roles for residents of Environmental Justice communities and other underrepresented groups. Participating organizations will prepare workers for roles such as HVAC-R technicians, energy auditors and refrigeration technicians.
Seven organizations received a combined $2.6 million through the Climate-Critical Workforce Training, Equipment and Infrastructure program:
- Atlantic Resiliency Innovation Institute ($425,000)
- Built Environment Plus ($360,000)
- Greater Lawrence Technical School ($600,000)
- Home Energy Efficiency Team Inc. ($750,000)
- HomeWorks Inc. ($110,000)
- Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges ($120,000)
- Studio for High-Performance Design + Construction ($333,735)
This funding is designated for essential equipment purchases and facility upgrades. These improvements are intended to help residents access and advance in technical careers, including work as electricians and EV charger technicians.
The administration also awarded $749,618 to three organizations under the Climate-Critical Underrepresented Business Support program:
- Beacon Climate Innovations ($300,000)
- 1Berkshire Strategic Alliance, Inc. ($50,000)
- Emerald Cities Collaborative ($399,618)
This initiative uses a regional "Hub and Spoke" model to provide baseline services that help underrepresented businesses prepare to bid on clean energy procurements. Additionally, more than $1 million was awarded to six organizations to provide technical assistance and career awareness programming for students and young adults:
- Browning the Green Space ($218,760)
- Project LEARN Inc. ($184,632)
- Studio for High-Performance Design and Construction ($275,000)
- Center for Collaborative Education ($150,000)
- EDC 413Works,Inc./ Springfield WORKS ($150,000)
- MassYouthInnoLab ($30,000)
"Building clean energy requires people with the skills to design, build, and maintain the systems that will power our communities for generations to come," said Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Rebecca Tepper. "These grants will expand access to high-quality training programs and help ensure that residents all around the state can participate in and benefit from clean energy."
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) will continue to convene stakeholders and fund regional strategies to manage accelerating workforce demand. The grant awards are part of the ongoing Massachusetts Workforce Agenda focused on equitable job creation in the clean energy sector.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by WWLP. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat information into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by WWLP staff before being published.