How Green Career Week Helped Build a Budding Industry Workforce
April 15, 2023 
Seventy-two businesses across 23 states and 57 cities took part in Seed Your Future’s second Green Career Week, which took place Feb. 27-March 3, 2023. The event gave professionals in the floriculture, arboriculture, agriculture, and horticulture industries an opportunity to reach students about careers in their fields and plant seeds for a budding new workforce. Participants talked with students at their schools, invited them to visit their business, and/or promoted careers on social media throughout the week.
Industry associations, foundations, retailers, nonprofits, and educational institutions are among the wide variety of organizations that took part the first Green Career Week of 2023. Collectively, the businesses showcased the power and importance of coming together to build tomorrow’s workforce, by forging connections in their communities to foster mentorships, internships, and eventually new employees.
To increase visibility for Green Career Week, Jazmin Albarran, Executive Director of Seed Your Future, conducted a radio media tour, participating in seven national and regional interviews to help spread the word about the benefits, variety, and value of green careers. The tour generated 22 interview broadcasts that reached more than 900,000 online viewers and radio listeners across the U.S.
“Industry response to Green Career Week has been gaining traction, and we are grateful to all who played a role in making our events successful,” Albarran says. “Taking part is easy and sets an example for others to join into future activities.”
Some examples of how businesses participated in Green Career Week include:
- Syngenta Flowers of North American spoke with the student club Urban Roots at the Garfield Park Conservator in Chicago, IL.
- Por La Mar Nursery in Santa Barbara, CA, highlighted staff on social media and added quotes in Spanish provided by the staff to share their voice.
- The Mount Auburn Cemetery created a video asking staff how their job at the cemetery is “Green.”
- In North Branch, MN, Bailey Nurseries staff spoke to horticulture and landscaping students at their local high school Norse Area Learning Center.
The second Green Career Week of 2023 is scheduled for Oct. 2-6, 2023. To participate, download a toolkit at www.seedyourfuture.org/green-career-week.
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