Policy and Advocacy

HRTPs are regional, industry-based, worker-focused partnerships. They bring together management, workers, government, and communities to address critical issues of equity, job quality, worker voice, industry efficiency, and environmental sustainability. By doing so, they build skills for California’s employers.

HRTPs are funded via the California Workforce Development Board. Learn more in the Essential Elements of High Road Training Partnerships.

The ‘High Road’ is how we achieve economic equity and climate resilience simultaneously. High Road jobs in the residential decarbonization sector retain and attract workers in this industry, improve the quality of work and persistence of energy savings, and improve the lives of workers and their families while serving their regional communities.

A High Road residential decarbonization job provides prevailing wages with overtime. It also offers healthcare coverage that includes dependents, vision and dental; a pension or retirement savings plan with an employer match; paid time off; and opportunities for career advancement and skill development.

A High Road residential decarbonization contractor safely employs workers while uplifting those from disadvantaged communities and maintaining a workforce that represents and serves the community in which they work. Learn more in Definitions of a High Road Contractor and Job.

The Bay Area Residential Building Decarbonization HRTP brings together regional cities, government agencies, labor unions, employers, and advisors. Our goal is to enhance job quality and provide accessible, stable career pathways for low-income communities of color in the growing residential decarbonization industry.

By weaving equity and job quality into building decarbonization investments, we can ensure that the pursuit of climate resilience doesn’t come at the expense of economic justice. For more information on why this partnership is necessary, see our HRTP overview. 

This project is supported by the California Employment Development Department with funding from the US Department of Labor with awards totaling $935,906 in federal sources.

The following are our HRTP principles:

1. We believe that dialogue with union partners and non-union residential contractors is critical to understand current market dynamics, key opportunities, and barriers to systematically designing and implementing high road solutions.
2. We commit to building capacity and increasing access to the High Road residential decarbonization market for small, BIPOC, and women-owned residential contractors and equipping them with the tools needed to become High Road employers. 
3. We commit to increasing equitable access to quality training and high road employment for BIPOC, women, and other disadvantaged job seekers and workers, and facilitating connections with residential contractors who can offer High Road opportunities.
4. We aim to raise the industry floor by advocating for High Road labor standards in publicly funded residential decarbonization programs, complemented by efforts to help employers meet these standards. 
5. We aim to increase the participation of high road, union contractors in the residential decarbonization retrofit market.