Boeing gives $150k to Charleston sustainability nonprofit

The Sustainability Institute, a Charleston-based nonprofit, announced Monday that it has received a $150,000 grant from Boeing to train local people for energy-efficiency jobs.

The institute plans to use the money to expand its Energy Conservation Corps Training Program, which helps kids and veterans become “certified weatherization professionals” and place them in jobs.

The nonprofit, which has about a dozen employees and a Boeing senior manager on its board, will also develop a broader, long-term strategy for such training in the area.

According to the institute, there is plenty of demand for this sort of work — more than 50,000 homes in the Charleston area need energy-efficiency upgrades — as well as incentives to help pay for it.

“We are immensely grateful for Boeing’s investment in this initiative because it should result in the rapid training and employment of individuals looking to work in this field,” Bryan Cordell, the institute’s executive director, said in a statement. “This will ensure that property owners have access to a well-trained pool of workers.”

Boeing, which makes the 787 Dreamliner in North Charleston, made $4.3 million in charitable contributions in South Carolina in 2011, the last year for which data is available.