Thousands of clean energy jobs going to Nevada’s Latino communities

Latinos believe in the American Dream, but it’s not always easy to attain for this community. 

In Nevada, however, the state’s growth is presenting new opportunities for Hispanics. New casinos are being built and new businesses are opening in Las Vegas, including those in the renewable energy sector. 

Close to 300 clean energy projects and over 170,000 clean energy jobs have been announced nationwide in the last year, since President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law. 

At least 129 of these projects are in areas with sizable communities of color, according to Climate Power, a group that advocates for action on climate change. Nevada has benefited from the wave of new projects, which includes Tesla’s massive Gigafactory expansion in Sparks and Washoe County.

“We know that Nevada is among one of the states with the most new jobs in communities of color in the entire country,” Jessica Ordóñez-Lancet, deputy managing director with Climate Power en Acción, told The Nevadan/El Nevadense. ” More than 10,000 new jobs have already been created in clean energy in [Nevada in] less than a year.” 

Nevada’s second congressional district in Northern Nevada—which is 24% Latino—has seen 10,450 new clean energy jobs announced over the past year, the second highest number of new clean energy jobs of any district in the country, according to Climate Power.

These jobs are creating good opportunities for Latinos and other people of color. Ordóñez-Lancet pointed to factories that are creating batteries for electric vehicles, for example. Additionally, she pointed out that the clean energy industry is paying up to 19% more on average than jobs in the fossil fuel industry and more of the new green jobs are being filled by Latino workers. 

“Clean energy jobs are revitalizing our communities and the investments made,” Ordóñez-Lance said. ”It’s wonderful to see good paying jobs created for our gente.”