Power outages highlight need for energy career outreach

GUILDERLAND, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Recent storms across our area have caused power outages, but what about the response? National Grid has partnered with a local nonprofit to recruit people to help keep the lights on.

With Tuesday’s storm behind us, its effects remain. National Grid reports that 140,000 customers' power was affected across the state. Western and Central New York were impacted the most. 10,000 of those cases were in the Capital Region. 

Crews at the Eastern Regional Control Center in Guilderland responded to yesterday's weather but the storm underscored the need for more manpower. That’s why their Grid for Good outreach program is partnering with nonprofit 518 ElevatED to connect interested adults to jobs at the agency or the wider energy industry.

“We are exposing them to the business that we are in and we engage with them and talk them through different scenarios and different opportunities that they may want to take advantage of,” said Brian Sano, Regional Executive for National Grid's Eastern Division.

Students got a tour of the command center, the place that controls the flow of electrical current on this side of the state.  “It's a core part of our business to show them the big picture. How we manage all of the different responsibilities that we have for our customers,” Sano emphasized.

One of those students was Johnathon Ramirez of Schenectady. The 31-year-old says working here would give him a sense of purpose lacking at his current job.

“By looking around, and seeing the people, how they speak about their opportunities and their responsibilities, it gives you a sense of having something more important that you're doing,” said Ramirez.

It's providing people with options that make all the difference for the nonprofit’s President & CEO Laura Marx.

“So our program is really about participant choice, but they need to know what those choices are," Marx said.

For 24-year-old student Yusif Okine of Schenectady, exposure to those choices and having that helping hand has been critical. 

“I’d probably be doing most things on my own, but I think it's very important to just have that guidance and just that mentorship," said Okine.

518 ElevatED's partnership with Grid for Good ends in May, but they hope to continue it annually.