Developed for the Clean Energy Center at Penn College, this collage highlights the "Weather the Future" and "Next Door: Ready to Work Program" campaigns, which aim to raise awareness about careers in weatherization. The visuals emphasize opportunity, purpose and impact in this growing industry.
The Clean Energy Center at Penn College has launched a new marketing campaign and workforce readiness program to help Pennsylvania weatherization employers fill their critical need for workers.
The Weatherization Assistance Program is a federal program that helps low-income families reduce their energy costs by making their homes more energy-efficient. The program began in 1976 and is administered at the state level by the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development.
Thirty-three nonprofits and community action agencies and approximately 200 subcontractors perform the work to weatherize Pennsylvania homes that qualify for the program. Typically, they weatherize roughly 1,000 homes annually.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 provided more funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program, allowing agencies to weatherize an additional 13,000 homes over the life of the grant.
With the increase in funding came an increased need for workers. Pennsylvania’s weatherization workforce will need to double to meet this demand. Building on a 40-year partnership centered on quality workforce development initiatives, DCED turned to the Clean Energy Center at Penn College for innovative solutions.
“DCED charged us with leading the effort to develop innovative approaches to recruit individuals into careers in energy efficiency and weatherization,” said Pamela Dincher, executive director for strategic initiatives for Workforce Development at Penn College. “Our approach is twofold. First, we are providing the state with a comprehensive marketing strategy aimed at raising awareness of these careers. Second, we’re helping them build a pipeline of future workers through career readiness and exploration programming.”
The Clean Energy Center, part of Penn College’s Workforce Development department, has worked with a marketing agency to develop the Weather the Future campaign, which began in February. This marketing effort includes a new website and a series of digital, social media, and radio ads running in areas of Pennsylvania that have the most critical need for workers.
These areas include Allegheny, Beaver, Bedford, Bucks, Butler, Cambria, Centre, Chester, Clearfield, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Erie, Fulton, Greene, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Mercer, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia, Washington, Westmoreland and York counties.
Among the marketing campaign's promotions, a 30-second video, featuring a real story from a weatherization professional, emphasizes the personal and community-level benefits of pursuing a career in energy efficiency and highlights the growing demand for skilled workers and the pride that comes with making a difference.
The second part of the Clean Energy Center’s initiative is the Next Door Ready to Work program. This program, which started in 2024, is designed to introduce Pennsylvania’s career and technical education students to the weatherization industry. The goal is to match CTE students with weatherization employers to arrange job shadowing, work-based learning, and full-time job opportunities.
CTE instructors are first exposed to the industry and Building Science Principles curriculum by attending a two-day training event. Each participating school also receives training equipment and curriculum to help them take this knowledge back to their classrooms and share with their students. Students at these schools have the opportunity to earn the Building Science Principles certificate, which is an industry-recognized credential. Field trips to the Clean Energy Center’s labs in Williamsport, Harrisburg, Latrobe and Pittsburgh, which include hands-on activities, are yet another component of the program.
Since the Next Door Ready to Work program launched last year, 19 schools in Pennsylvania have participated. More than 90 students have visited Clean Energy Center labs, students from six schools are scheduled to earn certificates before the end of the school year, and one student has already landed a full-time job with benefits before they’ve even graduated.
A four-minute video shows Pennsylvania career and technical educators exploring weatherization and energy-efficient home construction through training by the Next Door Ready to Work Program. In the piece, instructors highlight how these skills can better prepare students for future careers.
For more information about Weather the Future and Next Door Ready to Work, visit weatherthefuture.com.
The Next Door workforce readiness program is supported by the state DCED’s Weatherization Assistance Program training and technical assistance funding through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Shaped by 40 years of experience, Penn College’s Clean Energy Center is recognized as one of the top building science training providers in the country, providing workforce training, industry certifications and innovative solutions to the industry. The center specializes in hands-on, competency-based, front-line workforce training in techniques to reduce energy consumption and to improve the comfort and safety of buildings.