The Rise Up Center: Building Infrastructure for the Green Economy

The Rise Up Center is an opportunity center and an energy resilience hub where multiracial, low-income, working families can access pre-apprenticeships, jobs, and job readiness training in the fields of green energy, construction, service, and food.

Led by BIPOC labor and power-building organizations, the Rise Up Center will be capable of training 3,000 Minnesotans annually. Partners are Unidos MN, SEIU 26, Unite Here 17, the New Justice Project, UFCW 663, the Building Dignity and Respect Standards Council, and the Future Builders Cooperative.

All training programs will address the barriers commonly faced by women, immigrants, people of color, those without a high school degree, and workers with past involvement in the criminal system. The Rise Up Center will rehabilitate the former YWCA Uptown location, located at 2808 Hennepin Ave S, and will incorporate environmentally-conscious design standards.