In the middle of Climate Week NYC, Fordham University President Tania Tetlow and Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson announced a $1 million commitment to the Bronx Green Job Center, along with an additional $1.5 million from Con Edison, bringing the total investment to $2.5 million for Fordham University’s Bronx Green Job Center.
Set to open in early 2027 at 585 East Fordham Road, the Bronx Green Jobs Center aims to connect Bronx residents with career opportunities to establish a clean energy workforce development hub in New York.
The center will provide a hub for hands-on training, solar panel installation, electric vehicle charging, infrastructure, energy efficiency, urban agriculture and help support growing areas of New York’s green economy.
The center will also feature New York’s first dedicated green economy entrepreneurship support center, an event space and a street-level café showcasing locally produced goods.
“Through the center, we are deepening our commitment to community, and leading into our power at university to bring together the leaders in clean energy and sustainability under one roof, bringing our shared work to scale in order to ensure New York meets its climate and clean energy goals as a leader in the world,” said Fordham University President Tania Tetlow.
Earlier this year, The Bronx Green Job Center was awarded $1.4 million in state funding as part of the initiative to support clean energy workforce development programs statewide.
The center is located in some of the most environmentally unjust zip codes in the entire U.S.
The Bronx has historically been disproportionately impacted by climate injustice and climate change, with the borough left behind in investments in clean energy and sustainability solutions, now that is changing.
“This is a place where the Bronx will have the green economy lead,” said Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson. “With this new center, we are ensuring that our residents have access to the training, skills and resources and opportunities that they need to lead our great economy.”
This 12,000 square feet, formerly vacant industrial site will be converted into a state-of-the-art facility with modern laboratories and learning spaces.
“This gift will have an enormous impact on this community because with the renovation of this more than 100 year old facility, we will open doors and create opportunities for the Bronx New York’s green economy,” Tetlow said.
The dedicated space will be the first of its kind to support startups and help aspiring green entrepreneurs launch their small businesses.
The project took two years for design and construction, but the introduction of a dedicated green workforce and entrepreneurship hub idea dates back to 20 years ago under Mayor’s Bloomberg plan for a greener NYC in 2007, but has never been operationalized until now.
According to Vice President of External Affairs at Fordham University Travis Proulx, Fordham University brought in community based organizations, K-12 partners to create pathways to skilled careers for high school students, experts from other universities, and brought in industry and hiring partners.
“It is critical that we prepare people from this community to successfully compete for jobs that actually exist in the growing green economy,” Proulx said. “We’re bringing in experts together under one roof, to be able to expand all of these goals at a scale that is unheard of across the country.”
