Innovations in Wellness Awards

In October, Healthy Howard, Inc., certified 46 local businesses as "Healthy Workplaces". "The Healthy Workplaces program, a part of the County’s overall Healthy Howard Initiative, certifies county businesses that meet specific criteria in six main areas of worksite wellness-physical activity, mental health, environmental health,nutrition, safety and culture of wellness."

Just this past week, Healthy Howard awarded Tower Federal Credit Union and Verizon Wireless for their innovations in wellness. The program awarded $500 to businesses from three categories: small, medium, and large. Businesses that wanted to highlight specific policies designed to benefit the overall health of their workplaces were encouraged to apply for their Innovation Award. The Howard County website lists the benefits of being a member of Healthy Howard as including:

• Public recognition of membership in Healthy Howard from the Health Department
• Increasing employee morale by committing to their well-being
• Eligibility to win an Innovations in Wellness Award
• Business listed in print, and in online publicity
• Healthy Workplaces plaque for display
• Worksite wellness-related newsletters and resources from the Health Department
• Health Department support of efforts and plans for activities and policy development
• Improved employee health and productivity resulting in cost savings

The website also provides a toolkit for initiating healthy workplace policies, a manual for assessing your business's policies, and a list of healthy alternatives for workplace vending machines.

Green jobs in Maryland

Last week, I read an interesting article in the Baltimore Sun entitled "Green jobs economy has hits and misses in Maryland". The article said that "(c)lean jobs locally grew 2.6 percent annually from 2003 through last year..." - a rate which is apparently indicative of an uneven pattern of growth for Maryland's green economy.

Maryland has made many efforts to stimulate the green economy. You may recall my blog a few weeks ago on the recent legislation pertaining to B Corps. Additionally, in 2009, Maryland created the non-profit Maryland Workforce Corporation to provide job training, which received a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration to benefit it's Mid-Atlantic Regional Collaborative Green Consortium.  As part of the grant, Maryland Workforce Corporation has a website called MARC Regional Green Jobs, which provides a posting board for employers to list green jobs that are available.

MARC defines green jobs as "jobs involved in economic activities that help protect or restore the environment or conserve natural resources". These jobs deal with renewable energy, energy efficiency, greenhouse gas reduction, pollution reduction and cleanup, recycling and waste reduction, agricultural and natural resource conservation, and education, compliance, public awareness and training. These jobs are expected to provide direct and indirect green goods and services, specialized inputs, and the distribution of green goods.

If you have questions on how green jobs can benefit your business, please contact our office.