The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded the first of a series of "green jobs" grants designed to prepare targeted populations – including at-risk youths – to land jobs in the so-called green economy.

The $5.8 million grants, formally known as “green capacity building grants,” will be split among 62 grant recipients that include agencies that range from the Mojave Basin Youth Corps, Inc. in California to Co-opportunity, Inc., in Hartford, Conn. Each grantee got from $42,000 to $100,000. Several recipients, such as Co-Opportunity, Inc., will use a portion of the money to train youths who are either in or who have graduated from local YouthBuild programs.

The grants are part of a larger $500 million Recovery Act initiative for green jobs training. In addition to the $5.8 million in green capacity building grants, the federal labor department also released $48.8 million worth of State Labor Market Information Improvement grants meant to support the collection and dissemination of labor market information.

The remainder of the green jobs grants are expected to be awarded in the coming months.