Job fair, summit focus on the Binghamton area’s clean-energy sector

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — The Greater Binghamton Clean Energy Careers Summit and Job Fair is about much more than helping people find jobs in the clean-energy sector — although organizers hope that happens, too.

The event is really about bringing stakeholders together to learn about the Southern Tier’s clean-energy industries and to talk about both the challenges and the opportunities ahead.

The summit is set for Sept. 27 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Binghamton at 225 Water St. The event runs from 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m., followed by the job fair and networking reception from 4-6:30 p.m. While there is a fee for the summit portion, the job fair is free and open to everyone.

“There are huge opportunities for job seekers and employers, alike, but very few people are aware of that,” says Adam Flint, director of clean energy programs at Network for a Sustainable Tomorrow (NEST), one of the event organizers.

Through the event, Flint is hoping to get the word out about job opportunities, but he also hopes the summit is the steppingstone to more action in the Southern Tier to build the region’s clean-energy ecosystem.

The Southern Tier is already home to some players in the clean-energy field — from lithium-ion battery manufacturer iM3NY in Endicott to The Raymond Corporation, which produces electric-powered lift trucks at its plant in Greene, in Chenango County.

Through the summit, Flint hopes to link those companies to many others — job seekers, government officials, other companies, educational institutions, labor leaders, state agencies, and more — through the summit and career fair.

Jennifer de Souza, VP for energy solutions, supply chain, and leasing at Raymond, is the keynote speaker for the summit portion of the event.

Clean energy can often be a source of political argument, she notes, but the reality is that clean-energy solutions will continue to expand into more areas of our lives, whether its energy from clean sources to power our homes or electric vehicles on our streets, she says.

Almost all of those sources of clean energy need to utilize batteries, which are already being produced in the Southern Tier, she adds.

“The Binghamton area has always been known as the valley of opportunity,” de Souza says. “Clean energy is presenting an opportunity to us.”

At the summit, de Souza hopes she can bring some new insight to those in attendance about what manufacturing in the clean-energy industry is really like.

“People have a perception of manufacturing that needs to change,” she says. It’s not the dirty, grimy job of decades ago — and there are growing opportunities in the field.

She says there are more than 1,000 jobs currently available in the Southern Tier’s clean-energy industry, and that number is only growing. Over the next decade, that figure could grow to more than 10,000 de Souza says.

Ebony Hattoh, associate director of equity and justice at Binghamton University’s New Energy New York workforce-development program, says her organization will be on hand at the Clean Energy Careers Summit and Job Fair to help people interested in clean-energy jobs overcome barriers to that employment.

Those barriers can include things like transportation, childcare, or even preconceived notions. “You don’t have to have a Ph.D. in physics to get into this industry,” Hattoh says.

She hopes people attend the summit and job fair, even if they aren’t looking for a job, to learn more. “Just see what the landscape looks like, so you can be aware,” she says.

For more information or to register to attend the Greater Binghamton Clean Energy Careers Summit and Job Fair, visit greaterbinghamtongreenjobs.org.