June 14, 2018 

By Freddie Allen 

NNPA Newswire

 

As workers in the energy sector reach retirement age, the need to recruit, train and hire younger, more diverse talent will increase, dramatically.

 

That’s why the American Petroleum Institute (API), “the only national trade association that represents all aspects of America's oil and natural gas industry,” according to the group’s website, has increased their outreach and engagement efforts in the Black community.

 

According to a report by IHS Global prepared for API, “nearly 1.9 million direct job opportunities are projected through 2035 in the oil and natural gas and petrochemical industries” and “African Americans and Hispanics will account for over 80 percent of the net increase in the labor force from 2015 to 2035.”

 

David McGowan, the executive director of the North Carolina Petroleum Council (NCPC), said that the oil and natural gas industry “absolutely” sees the value in the ability of the Black Press to reach audiences that can benefit from learning more about opportunities in the energy sector; that’s especially true when it comes to reaching Black families with young children.

 

The key, McGowan said, is to empower parents and students, beginning in elementary school, with information about the importance of a rigorous education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics commonly known as STEM.

 

“Starting that conversation early with students and encouraging them to look at fields of study that would prepare them for any type of energy industry career path, whether that path is in oil and natural gas, electric utilities, wind, solar or renewables…if they have that STEM background they’re going to be better served as students and as future professionals than if they didn’t have that background,” McGowan said.

 

NCPC is the division of API that represents the oil and natural gas industry in North Carolina. McGowan joined API after serving as the director of regulatory affairs for the North Carolina Association of Realtors.

 

McGowan recently met with the North Carolina Black Press Association to discuss strategies for improving energy literacy and sharing aspects of the industry that many families in the Black community don’t know exist.

 

“It was a great first step in opening, what I hope will be, an on-going dialogue and relationship,” McGowan said. “That’s the model that we want to employ throughout our state network, because we recognize the value in those relationships.”

 

API partnered with the National Newspaper Publishers Association to increase the awareness about job and business opportunities in the energy sector. The NNPA is a trade group that represents more than 200 Black-owned media companies in the United States, that reach more than 20 million readers, combined, in print and online every week.

 

“We not only have a need for a diverse workforce, but also a younger workforce,” McGowan said. “We need new workers to come into the industry.”

 

McGowan said that a critical component to NCPC’s outreach efforts in North Carolina also includes engagement with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the state.

 

In a partnership with the American Association of Blacks in Energy, NCPC hosted an event about opportunities in the energy sector at Winston-Salem State University. NCPC also invited HBCU students from schools like Johnson C. Smith University to attend an event focused on the oil and natural gas industry at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

 

“We’re not neglecting college students, that’s still an important outreach avenue for us, but we’ve seen, more recently, that it’s also important to start getting in front of these students earlier,” McGowan said. “We start [reaching] them at the elementary, middle and high school levels so that they are aware of the opportunities in [STEM careers] and so that they’re best prepared to take advantage of those opportunities when they get to college.”

 

Touting the creation of job and business opportunities, McGowan said that his group advocates for expanding access to offshore environments and offshore waters off the coast of North Carolina for energy exploration and production in the Atlantic Ocean.

 

Earlier this year, The News and Observer reported that, “Supporters and opponents of offshore drilling gathered in Raleigh for the state’s only public hearing on the Trump administration’s controversial plan to open up the Atlantic coast for oil and gas exploration.”

 

While supporters of offshore drilling in North Carolina said that “the oil and gas industry would create good-paying, full-time jobs to prospect and later drill for oil and natural gas,” opponents argued that “oil spills would be an ever-present threat to the state’s environment, its tourism and fishing industries, and coastal people’s way of life,” The Observer reported.

 

The Virginian-Pilot reported that, President Donald Trump’s vision for dramatically expanding offshore exploration for oil and natural gas in the U.S., “calls for the largest auction of offshore leases in U.S. history—a total of 47 sales between 2019 and 2024, compared with 11 that had been scheduled in the 2017-2022 plan ironed out under President Barack Obama.”

 

The plan also includes three lease sales in the region that include federal waters off Virginia and North Carolina, The Virginian-Pilot reported.

 

Still, McGowan said that, based on research provided by API, more than 50,000 jobs would be created by 2035, if offshore drilling and exploration moved forward off the coast of North Carolina.

 

McGowan continued: “That could be a tremendous opportunity, not only from an employment standpoint, but also from an economic development standpoint, as well.”

June 14, 2018 

City News Service 

 

Aiming to match people struggling to make ends meet with good-paying county jobs, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors today approved pilot programs targeting economically disadvantaged communities as well as women interested in construction craft and apprentice jobs.

 

Supervisor Hilda Solis recommended the county focus on hiring people with barriers to employment, saying, “The county is a model for creating a pipeline to good, sustainable jobs for many residents.”

 

Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, who co-authored the motion, noted that the county is the largest single employer in the region.

 

“That gives us a terrific opportunity to lead by example,” Kuehl said.

 

The county will partner with an organization called Women in Non- Traditional Employment Roles (WINTER) to coordinate a “high-road” training partnership for crafts and apprenticeship positions.

 

As defined by the American Sustainable Business Council, “high-road” companies “view the workplace as a means to create significant business and social impact (and) reject low-road business models that exploit employees and disregard the environment as the basis for success.”

 

The board also directed its human resource department to come up with a plan in 30 days to reach out to residents of underserved communities, who are under-represented among county employees.

 

“We all see our neighbors and fellow citizens who are struggling with homelessness, often due to loss or lack of employment,” said Steve Lytle, director of the Salvation Army Bell Shelter. “County jobs are one way the county can help people become independent and establish a stable career path.”

 

Thirteen percent of county employees are projected to retire within five years and some entry-level jobs could see rates up to 29 percent, according to a report on workforce development by the Worker Education Resource Center.

 

Opportunities exist, but the application and onboarding process can be daunting, so part of the county’s work will be to help coach potential applicants to put their best foot forward. 

June 14, 2018 

City News Service 

 

Setting the stage for a bidding war between two of the entertainment industry's most powerful companies, Comcast today made a $65 billion bid to acquire 21st Century Fox's film and television businesses -- topping a $52.4 billion purchase offer made late last year by The Walt Disney Co.

 

 Philadelphia-based Comcast issued a statement saying the company had delivered a letter to the 21st Century Fox Board of Directors outlining the proposal, which is valued at $35 per share. The offer is about 19 percent higher than Disney's all-stock offer, according to the company.

 

In the letter sent to Fox executives, Comcast Chairman/CEO Brian Roberts said Comcast's offer was being made in part in response to Tuesday's court decision clearing the way for AT&T's purchase of Time Warner.

 

``We have long admired what the Murdoch family has built at 21<sup>st</sup> Century Fox,'' Comcast Chairman/CEO wrote in the letter. ``After our meetings last year, we came away convinced that the 21CF businesses to be sold are highly complementary to ours, and that our company would be the right strategic home for them.''

 

Disney and Fox announced a sales agreement in December. That deal -- subject to approval from the federal government and shareholders of each company -- would give Disney control of 21st Century Fox's film production businesses, including Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox 2000. The acquisition would include rights to films such as ``Avatar,'' ``X-Men,'' ``Fantastic Four'' and ``Deadpool,'' as well as ``The Grand Budapest Hotel,'' ``Hidden Figures,'' ``Gone Girl,'' ``The Shape of Water'' and ``The Martian.''

 

Disney would also acquire Fox's television units -- Twentieth Century Fox Television, FX Productions and Fox21 -- which would include ``The Americans,'' ``This Is Us,'' ``Modern Family,'' ``The Simpsons'' and ``many more hit TV series.''

 

Also part of the deal would be FX Networks, National Geographic Partners, Fox Sports Regional Networks, Fox Networks Group International, Star India and Fox's interests in Hulu, Sky plc, Tata Sky and Endemol Shine Group, according to the companies.

 

 Fox would maintain control of Fox Broadcasting, Fox Sports and Fox News.

 Disney hopes to acquire the Fox assets to bolster the offerings that will be made available on its upcoming streaming entertainment service, competing with services such as Netflix, Amazon and Hulu.