Community Offshore Wind, a joint venture of RWE and National Grid Ventures, marked National Engineers Week by partnering with local schools to cultivate an interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics among students in disadvantaged communities. National Engineers Week, held every February, is a series of national events to promote awareness of the engineering profession and increase interest in engineering and technology careers.

Community Offshore Wind funded field trips for 65 students, in three local community centers to museums across New York City and Long Island, including:

• From Red Hook Initiative to the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History;
• From the Joseph Miccio Community Center to the New York Aquarium;
• And from the Long Beach Martin Luther King Center to the Long Island Children’s Museum.

Members of the Community Offshore Wind team also visited schools in Brooklyn, including PS 676 Harbor Middle School and the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School, to speak with sixth graders and high school students about clean energy, offshore wind, and future career opportunities in renewable energy.

As part of their provisionally awarded project, Community Offshore Wind is expected to create more than 800 jobs in STEM-related fields across New York. Building interest in STEM and educating students about future careers is critical to prepare them for jobs in offshore wind and other clean energy industries. To this end, Community Offshore Wind will invest $41 million in economic development initiatives, including a $100,000 investment in STEM and environmental education programs to prepare the offshore wind workforce of the future.

“Offshore wind, and the clean energy industry more broadly, will bring good jobs to New York. We need to introduce students to STEM early to spark a love of science and put them on the path to careers in clean energy,” said Doug Perkins, President and Project Director of Community Offshore Wind. “These fields trips and school visits are just one of the many ways we are working together with our community partners in Brooklyn and across the state to ensure New Yorkers have the skills necessary to seize the opportunities that offshore wind creates.

“It’s encouraging to see a developer like Community Offshore Wind share our focus on inspiring younger generations and exposing them to new career pathways,” said Lynn Shon, a STEAM teacher at the New York Harbor Middle School. “Our students know what offshore wind is, but not necessarily how many careers exist within offshore wind and STEM fields. With Community Offshore Wind, we are giving them access to opportunities they can pursue.”

During Engineers Week in 2023, Community Offshore Wind sent 75 students from communities in downstate New York to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum; Long Island Children’s Museum; and New York Hall of Science. The field trips were provided through partnerships with Red Hook Initiative, Good Shepherd Services at the Joseph Miccio Community Center, and the Long Beach Martin Luther King Center.

In addition to funding these field trips, Community Offshore Wind committed $11 million to a partnership with the YMCA to provide free swimming lessons to 100,000 children, and $10 million to provide childcare financial assistance for the future offshore wind workforce in partnership with the United Way of New York State.

Community Offshore Wind was provisionally awarded an offtake contract in October of 2023 to bring 1.3 GW of wind energy to New York as a part of New York’s third offshore wind solicitation. This project, which will connect to the power grid in Brooklyn, will deliver clean energy to power at least 500,000 homes and generate $3.3 billion in incremental economic benefits.