Thanks to the visionary leadership of Van Jones, founder of Green For All and author of The Green Collar Economy, the argument of jobs versus the environment is coming to a decisive end: they can both win! With the appointment of Jones to a green jobs czar position by President Obama, there is tremendous hope and opportunity for millions of Americans out of work to get the training they need to return to an economy that they themselves will help to make sustainable and healthy for themselves and their children.
A vital piece of the equation is missing, however! With almost 75% of new job creation in the U.S. coming from the small business community, the Small Business Administration will play a vital role in maintaining the momentum generated by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, also known as the stimulus package. Currently the SBA has no programs to help small businesses go green or to help aspiring entrepreneurs start a green business. That means no advisory boards, no specific guideline documents, no sustainability training tools, no sustainability consulting, and no loan specialists experienced in green business, making it harder for aspiring social entrepreneurs to get the funding they need to start businesses and create jobs!
Help us collect 500,000 signatures. That is one for every one of the half million Americans who will start a business this year in the U.S. so that the SBA will work with Van Jones to ensure that every entrepreneur has the tools and guidance to go green and be successful!
Thanks to the visionary leadership of Van Jones, founder of Green For All and author of The Green Collar Economy, the argument of jobs versus the environment is coming to a decisive end: they can both win! With the appointment of Jones to a green jobs czar position by President Obama, there is tremendous hope and opportunity for millions of Americans out of work to get the training they need to return to an economy that they themselves will help to make sustainable and healthy for themselves and their children.
A vital piece of the equation is missing, however! With almost 75% of new job creation in the U.S. coming from the small business community, the Small Business Administration will play a vital role in maintaining the momentum generated by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, also known as the stimulus package. Currently the SBA has no programs to help small businesses go green or to help aspiring entrepreneurs start a green business. That means no advisory boards, no specific guideline documents, no sustainability training tools, no sustainability consulting, and no loan specialists experienced in green business, making it harder for aspiring social entrepreneurs to get the funding they need to start businesses and create jobs!
Help us collect 500,000 signatures. That is one for every one of the half million Americans who will start a business this year in the U.S. so that the SBA will work with Van Jones to ensure that every entrepreneur has the tools and guidance to go green and be successful!
Dear Mrs. Mills,
We the Undersigned respectfully ask you to work with Van Jones to continue the momentum generated by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act by creating all the tools needed by small business owners to help them go green. This includes, but is not limited to:
Advisory Boards knowledgeable about green business that can assist business owners with questions about how to go green
Downloadable documents about green business practices, ways to save energy, water, and other resources, product life cycle analysis, and eco-friendly alternatives for just about any kind of business someone would want to start
Loan specialists knowledgeable about the green economy to make sure green entrepreneurs get the funding they need to create green jobs
Sustainability consulting resources including information about all the tax credits and other incentives for efficiency upgrades for appliances, irrigation systems, lighting, HVAC and weatherization, as well as for solar, wind, geothermal and other alternative energy systems
A green business section on the SBA website, with a resource page that includes books, DVDs, podcasts and other resources that a small business owner might find helpful
Many thanks for all you do, Scott Cooney Author of Build a Green Small Business: Profitable Ways to Become an Ecopreneur (McGraw-Hill)
We signed the "Ask the Small Business Administration to help Small Businesses Go Green!" petition!
# 85:
10:03 am PDT, Sep 25,Christian Surgenor, Texas
# 84:
12:23 pm PDT, Sep 24,Javon Martin, Texas
# 83:
7:53 am PDT, Sep 24,Helen Ribeiro, Texas
# 82:
7:14 am PDT, Sep 24,Domenico Saponaro, Texas
# 81:
4:34 am PDT, Sep 24,Annette Lam, Texas
# 80:
11:08 pm PDT, Sep 23,Gladys Petit, Texas
# 79:
12:37 pm PDT, Aug 12,Mike Mitchell, Maine
# 78:
9:45 pm PDT, Jul 29,Donald W. Lee LeeHigh Teknowledgies, Texas
Ecopreneurs are bright, high-energy folks who can and will do a lot of good if given some help and guidance as to funding sources and how to apply. Kindly stop with the "smoke and mirrors" of throwing good money at bureaucrats and lobbyists for wasteful and misguided Cap-And-Trade legislation that could better be offered to sustainable energy entrepreneurs to start and expand the businesses that will really improve the environment, cut reliance on foreign oil and make jobs in the new economy of the 21ST century.
# 77:
11:35 am PDT, Jun 3,Leanne Greene, Texas
Please help this revolution get started.
# 76:
10:23 am PDT, May 1,Lesley Christoph, Utah
# 75:
2:40 pm PDT, Apr 26,C Tuke, Utah
# 74:
3:49 pm PDT, Apr 14,Coreen McCuistion, Utah
# 73:
9:40 pm PDT, Apr 11,Ari R. Kolman, Canada
I was told that we were all going Green, but maybe that means that everyone just puts on a green work suit while they’re working.. We need businesses to go green, and stop sending their organic and environmentally safe products in a package of plastic and styrafoam packing.. GO GREEN EVERYONE!!! Please ensure that every entrepreneur has the tools and guidance to go green and be successful!
# 72:
10:38 pm PDT, Apr 8,Elvira Paoletti, California
This is the kind of visionary ideas we need to see more of!
# 71:
12:54 pm PDT, Apr 7,Gina Riggs, Utah
# 70:
7:53 am PDT, Apr 6,Marie Overall, Utah
# 69:
1:00 pm PDT, Apr 5,Vidya Sims, California
# 68:
7:34 pm PDT, Apr 4,Chris Baker, Utah
# 67:
4:08 pm PDT, Apr 3,Michael Hand, Florida
# 66:
9:55 am PDT, Apr 3,Missy Woolstenhulme, Utah
# 65:
11:11 am PDT, Apr 2,Edith Welker, Utah
Small businesses need all the help they can get to be competitive and survive the onslaught of big boxes and chain stores. Helping them to become sustainable is a novel and important way to help them draw more customers and continue to build the revenue and character of our cities.
# 64:
6:54 am PDT, Apr 2,Jennifer Gardner, Florida
# 63:
4:38 pm PDT, Apr 1,Julie Hawkins, Utah
The SBA should set an example to financial institutions in lending to people who are starting GREEN BUSINESSES, or making the conversion to green-up an existing business.
# 62:
8:24 am PDT, Apr 1,Name not displayed, Germany
# 61:
12:29 pm PDT, Mar 31,Maureen Black, California
After the vietnam war, thousands upon thousands of refugees were given special assistance by having easy access to SBA loans to get their businesses started - now we are the refugees! The SBA needs to lead us out of this crisis - we all now that the KEY to unlocking financial growth and jobs growth has to come from small businesses. The SBA needs to rework their programs and their priorities and becoem a resource for green business creation & growth, which will in turn create the training and jobs for the green revolution.
# 60:
11:18 am PDT, Mar 31,Wanda Maltese, New Jersey
# 59:
11:16 am PDT, Mar 31,Michael Maltese, New Jersey
Michael J. Maltese
# 58:
11:04 am PDT, Mar 31,Judy Maltese, New Jersey
# 57:
10:55 am PDT, Mar 31,William Feeney, New Jersey
# 56:
10:51 am PDT, Mar 31,Karen Evangelista, New Jersey
# 55:
9:24 am PDT, Mar 30,Name not displayed, Washington
