United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-176
May 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
SEPA
Brownfields Job Training
and Development
Demonstration Pilot
National Association of Black Environmentalists, Denver, CO
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
Quick Reference Fact Sheet
EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other
stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and
sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and
an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded
up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; job training
pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected
by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental
field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds
to make loans for the environmental cleanup of brownfields. These pilot programs are intended to provide EPA, states,
tribes, municipalities, and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods
to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.
BACKGROUND
EPA has selected the National Association of Black
Environmentalists for a Brownfields Job Training and
Development Demonstration Pilot. The National
Association of Black Environmentalists' assessment
pilot partner is the Sand Creek Corridor Assessment
Pilot, which encompasses the City and County of
Denver and Commerce City. The Job Training Pilot
will focus on six disadvantaged, primarily minority
communities in northeast Denver. Five of the six
targeted communities are within a federally designated
Enterprise Community (total population over 100,000).
Poverty rates within the six communities range from
27-50 percent.
The federal Enterprise Community has a history of
mixed residential and heavy industrial use. Many
facilities have been abandoned, but multiple heavy
generators that produce noxious odors and soot are
still operating. There are 22 CERCLIS and heavy
generator sites that lie within a four-square mile area
within one of the target communities. A former NPL
national hazardous materials disposal site also lies in
the target area, and there are numerous waste disposal
areas. Training is needed to provide good jobs to local
residents in the assessment and cleanup of the many
brownfields in this economically depressed area.
PILOT SNAPSHOT DateofAnnouncement:
May 2000
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilotwilltrain 100 par-
ticipants as environmental techni-
cians. Studentswill be recruited from
among the minority and disadvan-
taged residentsof six northeastDen-
vercommunities, which sufferfrom
a legacy of mixed residential and
heavyindustrial land usethathas left
manyabandoned, potentially heavily
contaminated properties in close prox-
imityto neighborhood households.
Denver, Colorado
Contacts:
National Association of Black
Environmentalists
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 8
(303)312-6803
Visit the EPA Region 8 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region08/land_waste/bfhome/
bfhome.html
Forfurther information, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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TRAINING OBJECTIVES
The National Association of Black Environmentalists
plans to train 100 participants, achieve a 75 percent
placement rate, and support career placement of
graduates for up to five years after the training is
completed. Participants will be recruited from among
the minority and disadvantaged residents of the six
target communities in northeast Denver. The Pilot
training program will consist of the 40-hour OSHA
health and safety course, heavy metals and asbestos
abatement, hazardous organic materials management,
pollution and waste minimization, chemistry of
hazardous materials, site assessment for property
transfer, hazard communication, and industrial spill
response, including training in the use of innovative
assessment and cleanup technologies.
The National Association of Black Environmentalists'
training efforts will be supported by organizations
such as the Mayor's Office of Employment and
Training, Front Range Community College, University
of Colorado, Colorado School of Mines, Urban League
of Metropolitan Denver, Northeast Park Hill
Environmental Oversight Board, and several local
environmental engineering firms. Advanced college
training is available for selected students who will be
qualified to lead crews of technicians. Outreach
activities will be coordinated with three community
groups that have extensive experience with
environmental justice issues and contamination in the
target area.
ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Conducting outreach to recruit minority and
disadvantaged residents of six target communities
in northeast Denver;
• Conducting brownfieldstechniciantraining,including
courses in the use of innovative assessment and
cleanup technologies; and
• Supporting career placement of students for up to
five years after the job training is completed.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
BrownfieldsJob Training and Development Demonstration Pilot National AssociationofBlackEnvironmentalists, Denver, Colorado
May'2000 EPA500-F-00-176
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