VAN JONES: "Beyond Green Jobs: The Next American Economy"

Van Jones is a globally recognized, award-winning pioneer in human
rights and the clean-energy economy. He is a co-founder of three
successful non-profit organizations: the Ella Baker Center for Human
Rights, Color of Change, and Green For All. He is the best-selling
author of the definitive book on green jobs: The Green-Collar Economy
and served as the green jobs advisor in the Obama White House in 2009.

Van is currently a senior fellow at the Center For American Progress
and is a senior policy advisor at Green For All.

He currently holds a joint appointment at Princeton University, as a
distinguished visiting fellow in both the Center for African American
Studies and in the Program in Science, Technology and Environmental
Policy at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International
Affairs.

CREATING A CLEAN ENERGY ECONOMY

Our country is in the depths of an economic recession and ecological
crisis. We need nine million new jobs in the United States. They must
be jobs that can support families and jobs that do no harm to the
environment. America needs her best minds generating smart and
innovative ideas to create more jobs. Van Jones is one of those
people.

As the founder of Green For All, the national organization working to
get green jobs to disadvantaged communities, Van was the main advocate
for the Green Jobs Act, which George W. Bush signed into law in 2007.
The Act was the first piece of federal legislation to codify the term
"green jobs." Under the Obama administration, it has resulted in $500
million for green job training nationally.

AWARDS AND HONORS

Van's work has earned him many awards and honors, including:

Named by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in
the world in 2009.
Designated by the World Economic Forum as a "Young Global Leader."
Recipient of the international Ashoka Fellowship.
Named one of Essence Magazine's 25 most inspiring African Americans in
2008. Last year, Ebony Magazine named him one of the Power 150.

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