Green jobs training programs provide a great opportunity for the nation's underserved communities to gain valuable work training to help lift them up out of poverty. This includes individuals that have served prison sentences.

A Recovery Act-funded green jobs training program in Chicago will help provide jobs for 650 ex-convicts. And the green jobs for cons trend isn't limited to the Midwest; inmates at San Quentin State Prison in California recently were treated to a green jobs fair.

Representatives from 60 companies, green jobs advocacy groups and training centres gathered at San Quentin to promote green jobs as a way to get on the right path once the inmates have served their prison sentence. Seeing all of these people descend on the prison to help provide hope for these incarcerated individuals was heartwarming for inmate Kevin Williams, 39.

"For anybody to come in here, give their time, that's a special person," he told The Oakland Tribune. "This is prison, man. It's the last place you want to be. If you don't change when you meet people like that, it ain't never going to happen."

Inmates with fewer than 10 years left on their sentence were invited to attend the job fair to let them see what might be available when they emerge -- a green-collar economy -- and how they can take advantage of the new opportunities available.

The Bay Area isn't the only region in California helping provide green-collar jobs and job training to ex-cons. In the Los Angeles area, you'll find Father Greg Boyle and Homeboy Industries.

Homeboy Industries is a gang intervention program and Father Boyle helps keep at-risk youth out of the gangs and off the streets through a variety of programs, including a solar panel installation training program. The former inmates served by the programs at Homeboy Industries are able to provide a valuable contribution to today's emerging green economy.

Green-collar jobs have the potential to provide millions of Americans with a viable pathway out of poverty. They also have the ability to help former inmates break the incarceration cycle--get out of jail, get a good green job and stay out of jail.

Melissa Hincha-Ownby blogs for the Mother Nature Network.