Did "Pookie" get a green-collar job? : a critical case study on the East Bay Green Corridor's employment goals, activities, and impacts

Abstract

This thesis describes the formation of the East Bay Green Corridor (EBGC), a multi-city partnership for green investment in California, and how it failed to create stable, living wage economic opportunities for those with high employment barriers between 2007 and 2012. By analyzing semi-structured interviews with key informants and green economic development data at regional and urban levels, it provides insight on how EBGC cities tried to influence the distribution of "green-collar" jobs and businesses through various policy experiments. This study largely attributes the conclusion to the fact that EBGC did not have the capacity to be effective as an organization, which ultimately led to its dissolution in 2013 into an unfunded volunteer project. Using regional analysis, it also finds that the highest years of green employment growth (2007-08) in the California East Bay preceded the existence of EBGC activities. Furthermore, it calls into question the long-term economic impacts of EBGC activities by showing that the Great Recession slowed employment growth rates in green sectors more than it did the employment growth rates in non-green sectors. While this thesis does not critique the concept or possibility of a green-collar economy as other reports have, it suggests a few ways that policymakers interested in green-collar economic development can be grounded and strategic about their approaches to regional partnership and poverty alleviation to realize the desired returns on this type of economic development investment.