How the City of Saint Paul and Ramsey County are accelerating access to climate-resilient green careers with TOPCities.
* Pseudonyms are used throughout.
Tamara*—a resident of Saint Paul, Minnesota—hoped to build a career in sheet metal work, a field she trained for extensively. Despite her qualifications, at 51, she found herself laying tile, working a job that didn’t feel like a career path.
“Tile was my last choice,” she admitted, “but it’s what was open.”
She had seen friends set their sights on skilled green trades with high hopes, only to be funneled into less desirable roles, where career paths felt like dead-ends.
“I know I might be ‘filling a quota’—I’ve experienced it personally,” she shared.
While she saw efforts to bring diversity into the trades, Tamara faced the harsh realities of gender-based barriers that dictated where her career could start—and end. The lack of true upward mobility only deepened her frustration.
To address the challenges faced by Tamara and many others, Saint Paul and Ramsey County joined TOPCities, a program co-led by the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University and the Centre for Public Impact, partnering with Google.org and Goodwill-Easter Seals to co-design a digital tool connecting local job seekers to green careers. Using human-centered design, the project gathered insights from focus groups and interviews with about 30 job seekers—mainly Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) residents—and surveyed local employers to identify barriers and co-create solutions that meet the needs of both groups.
Tamara’s experience echoes a broader national trend. As climate change intensifies, demand for green jobs roles in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and green construction—is growing rapidly, especially in places like Saint Paul. These jobs present new paths for economic growth and wealth-building, particularly for communities facing high environmental risks.
Minnesota recently reached a record 62,102 clean energy jobs, fueled by a national $446 million investment from federal initiatives like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). An expected six-percent job growth in Minnesota in 2024 will support infrastructure renewal, climate resilience, and environmental justice, with Minnesota’s clean energy companies adding jobs nearly five times faster than the overall economy.
Compared to other industries, green jobs are high quality and pay more than the national average. Many require only a high school diploma and offer hands-on learning through apprenticeships and internships. For instance, wind turbine technicians and water treatment operators often hold just a high school diploma, making these roles accessible pathways to well-paying careers.
Many high-quality green jobs offer wages up to 19 percent above the national mean, with Saint Paul’s energy efficiency roles among the most lucrative. In the Minneapolis-Saint Paul region, on average, green jobs pay significantly more than non-green jobs—about $7,369 more annually, with a mean wage of $84,562 per year.