P.E.I. Farm Centre program to prepare people for green economy

There's a new program coming to P.E.I. to help young people find work in the green economy.

The pilot project is offered by the P.E.I. Farm Centre and is called Engaging Youth in the Era of Climate Change.

"Our objective is to work with young people to help them develop transferable skills that would be important in the emerging new economy in terms of the green economy, dealing with climate change and social enterprises," said Phil Ferraro, CEO of the farm centre.

He said he is always concerned about climate change and he has heard more and more about how the "jobs of today and yesterday" could be lost to automation.

"It's the youth of today that will be most impacted tomorrow and what we wanted to do is develop a program that helps them develop their general employability skills, but also to prepare them for the future," Ferraro said.

He said the program is geared toward people ages 18-30 who have had trouble finding work. The program will combine classroom studies, experiential learning opportunities and work placements.

Paid participation

"This is a pilot project that we will be running over the course of the fall, winter and spring and the total budget really depends on the number of participants," Ferraro said.

The program is being funded by the federal government. Depending on the number of participants that funding could reach $450,000, he said.

"We actually have money to pay the participants during their training period," he said.

The program is looking for at least 20 paid participants. Ferraro said he expects the program to begin in October.

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