About Alex Risley Schroeder

Alex Risley Schroeder, M.Ed., D.Min., is a skilled trainer, educator, and consultant with nearly 20 years of experience in the fields of adult basic education and workforce development. Since launching Finding Earth Works in late 2006, she has consulted with numerous agencies to help educators and program developers integrate “green economy” thinking into their curricula, and is a regular panelist on the subject of green economy jobs for adult learners.

Alex’s graduate work has focused on adult and community education. Her dissertation investigated teaching and learning in adult basic education within the larger context of our relationship to Earth and the social, environmental and economic justice dimensions of that relationship.



Career Highlights

Principal, Finding Earth Works, Northampton, MA

Green Careers Coach, Franklin/Hampshire Regional
Employment Board, Greenfield, MA

Consultant, Massachusetts Workforce Alliance (MWA), Boston/Northampton, MA

Principal Investigator, United States Department of Education research grant, Holyoke Community College, MA

Coordinator, System for Adult Basic Education Support (SABES), Holyoke Community College, MA

Associate Director, The Literacy Project, Greenfield, MA

Editorial board member, The Change Agent Climate Change issue

Advisory Board member, Clean Tech Agenda

Advisory Board, ABE Distance Learning Committee, MA DOE, 2002–2004

Statewide New ABE Staff Orientation Working Group, 2001



Presentations

November 2008: Clean Energy Connections panelist for “Green Jobs, Good Jobs”; panel moderator, “Future Energy Possibilities,” Springfield, MA

October 2008: Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Education “Network 2008” Conference: Green Jobs: What’s the Connection for ABE/GED/ESOL Students?

October 2008: Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Education “Network 2008” Conference: The Pachamama Alliance

September 2008: “Green Jobs Now” panelist, Pittsfield, MA

September 2008: Awakening the Dreamer Symposium, co-presenter

July 2008: Green Jobs panelist, Massachusetts Democratic Convention

Summer 2008: Green Jobs: What’s the Connection for ABE/GED/ESOL students?, Holyoke, MA

Spring 2008: Western Massachusetts Energy Summit panelist



In the News

Quoted on WFCR, “Future of Renewable Energy Discussed in Northampton, January 15, 2008”

“Job Board’s Coach Helps Area People Find Green Careers,” Daily Hampshire Gazette. Interview. December 3, 2007

“Calculating Your Carbon Footprint” The Change Agent: Making Sense of Climate Change, Issue 27, September, 2008. (To access this article, a sliding-scale subscription is required.)

“What is a Green Job?” The Change Agent: Making Sense of Climate Change, Issue 27, September, 2008. (To access this article, a sliding-scale subscription is required.)

Community Involvement

GREEN Northampton, founding member, 2008

Member, Massachusetts Green Jobs Coalition, 2008

Adult Basic Education Grant Committee member, Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, 2001—present




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