On October 20, 2009 the Massachusetts Senate passed legislation streamlining the organizational structure of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Technology Center. Included in An Act Relative to Clean Energy is an initiative sponsored by Senator Benjamin B. Downing (D- Pittsfield) to make permanent the Pathways out of Poverty (Pathways) grant program within the Center. Downing championed the effort to establish Pathways within the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs as a part of the Green Jobs Act of 2008. Pathways grants are intended to support economic self-sufficiency in the clean energy industry for low and moderate-income individuals. Senator Downing's offered the following remarks in support of making Pathways a permanent program. (less info)