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Van Jones: Green Jobs Not Jails

Wed, September 28th, 2016
7:30 pm

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Van Jones is a CNN political contributor, regularly appearing across the network’s programming and special political coverage. Jones has founded and led numerous social enterprises engaged in social and environmental justice, including The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Color of Change, Rebuild The Dream, and The Dream Corps, which promotes innovative policy solutions.

Jones is a Yale-educated attorney. He is the author of two New York Timesbest-selling books, The Green Collar Economy (2008) and Rebuild the Dream(2012). The second book chronicles his journey as an environmental and human rights activist to becoming a White House policy advisor.

He was the main advocate for the Green Jobs Act. Signed into law by George W. Bush in 2007, the Green Jobs Act was the first piece of federal legislation to codify the term “green jobs.” During the Obama Administration, the legislation has resulted in $500 million in national funding for green jobs training.

In 2009, Jones worked as the green jobs advisor to President Barack Obama. In this role, Jones helped to lead the inter-agency process that oversaw the multi-billion dollar investment in skills training and jobs development within the environmental and green energy sectors.

The second speaker in the Class of ’71 Public Affairs Forum on Inequality.  Part of a year-long campus initiative on Confronting Climate Change. Reception to Follow.

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