Climate Solutions That Go Beyond Carbon: Growing a Just Green Economy

Chapters

00:00 Welcome and Introducing the Panel 

03:12 MaKara Rumley: What Is the Green Economy? 

08:57 Latesa Bailey: Kia Georgia’s Investment in EV Manufacturing 

16:58 Career Pathways and Training at Kia Georgia 

20:26 Garry Harris: Building an Equitable Clean Energy Workforce 

25:18 Georgia’s Clean Energy Jobs by the Numbers 

31:08 Connecting Communities to Opportunity: The Street Teams App 

35:28 Audience Q&A: Reaching Parents and Overcoming Transportation Barriers 

43:07 Audience Q&A: Emerging Industries and Incentives Beyond EVs 

52:08 Audience Q&A: Relocation, Recruitment, and Career Fairs 

57:22 Closing Thoughts and Advice for the Next Generation

Georgia’s clean energy economy is booming, but who gets to share in that growth? In this Drawdown Georgia webinar, moderator MaKara Rumley of the Hummingbird Firm brings together leaders who are directly building both economic opportunity and equity into Georgia’s clean energy transition.

Latesa Bailey, senior manager and head of human resources at Kia Georgia, and Garry Harris, managing director of the Center for Sustainable Communities, join the conversation to explore what a genuinely just, green economy looks like in practice, and how far Georgia already is on that path.

How Is Kia Georgia Building Its EV Workforce?

Latesa Bailey shares how Kia Georgia, now producing its first U.S.-assembled EV, is investing in workforce development through partnerships with local high schools, technical colleges, and universities, including hands-on programs like SLAM and LIFT, to build a pipeline of workers ready for the future of EV manufacturing.

Where Do Georgia’s Clean Energy Jobs Stand Today?

Garry Harris lays out where Georgia ranks nationally on solar and clean energy jobs, how billions in federal and private investment tied to the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law are translating into jobs across the state, and why equitable workforce development has to be intentional, not incidental.

Connecting Communities to Clean Energy Opportunity

Harris shares how the Center for Sustainable Communities uses tools like a mobile app called Street Teams, and long-running community radio broadcasts, to bring clean energy training and job opportunities directly to communities that often don’t hear about them otherwise.

Your Questions, Answered

The panel closes with an extended audience Q&A covering how to reach parents about manufacturing careers, transportation barriers to jobs outside metro areas, which industries beyond EVs are seeing the most momentum, emerging technologies like energy storage and geothermal, and practical steps for relocating or breaking into the clean energy workforce.

What You’ll Learn

• How Kia Georgia has grown its workforce to nearly 17,000 jobs since 2009, and how it’s building a pipeline for EV manufacturing specifically.
• Where Georgia ranks nationally on solar and clean energy jobs, and how federal investment is translating into jobs on the ground.
• How community-based tools like an app and local radio are helping connect underserved communities to clean energy careers.
• Practical barriers to clean energy jobs, including transportation and awareness, and how employers and organizations are addressing them.
• What emerging clean energy technologies, beyond solar and EVs, could mean for Georgia’s job market in the years ahead.
• How individuals can find training, apprenticeships, and credentials to break into the clean energy workforce.

Continue reading in our companion blog for more on Georgia’s journey toward a just, green economy.

Download the Interview Transcript

Prefer to read the conversation instead? Download the complete transcript of this webinar to explore the panelists’ full presentations and audience Q&A.