United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-273
December 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Brownfields Job Training
and Development
Demonstration Pilot
Civic Works, Baltimore, MD
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 $1,000,000 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 Civic Works-Baltimore for a
Brownfields Job Training and Development
Demonstration Pilot. The City and County of Baltimore
are Civic Works' assessment pilot partners. The City
of Baltimore also is the recipient of a Brownfields
Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot. Two-thirds of the
residents of the City of Baltimore (population about
645,000) are African American. A quarter of the
City's residents live belowthe poverty level and 10%
are unemployed. Almost one-third of the land in the
City of Baltimore is zoned for industrial use.
The Job Training Pilot will focus on the federally
designated Empowerment Zone in eastern Baltimore.
Between 3,500 and 5,500 acres in the Empowerment
Zone are underdeveloped due to perceived
contamination.Neighborhoods in the areasuffer from
a lack of jobs and economic investment. In addition,
the City's diminishing tree cover has negatively
affected its poorest communities. There is a need for
training in hazardous materials handling skills forthose
employed in planting vegetation in the contaminated
soils of brownfields. The Job Training Pilot will train
residents with the skills neededto preliminarily assess
sites and implement protective permanent vegetation,
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Baltimore, Maryland
Contacts:
Civic Works
(410)366-8533
Date of Announcement:
December 2000
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot will train 50
young adults for entry-level
positions in brownfields
revegetation, forestation, and
phytoremediation projects.
Students will be recruited from
thefederal EmpowermentZone
in eastern Baltimore, which
contains between 3,500 and
5,500 acres of underdeveloped
and potentially contaminated
properties.
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 3
(215)814-5000
Visit the E PA Region 3 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/brownfld/hmpage1.htm
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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forestation, and phytoremediation projects on
brownfields sites in the City.
TRAINING OBJECTIVES
Civic Works-Baltimore plans to train 5 0 participants,
achieve a 75 % placement rate, and conduct follow-up
for one year after the training is completed. Participants
will be recruited from young adults among Baltimore' s
population who have completed high school or their
GED. The 12-week Pilottraining program will include
HAZWOPERtraining, soil sampling, site assessment
skills, basic ecology, landscaping and nursery training,
and phytoremediation botany.
The training efforts of Civic Works will be supported
by organizations such as Cornell University, The
American Forests Association, The Urban Forest
Initiative, the Baltimore Office of Employment
Development, Community Resources, Inc., National
Aquarium in Baltimore, and additional non-profit and
community-based organizations. Volunteers will work
under the supervision of Cornell University to create
native vegetation research stations as models of the
value ofthis innovative technology to local landowners.
Local employers have committed to hire graduates.
ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part ofthis Pilot include:
• Conducting outreach to recruit young adults from
Baltimore who have completed high school or their
GED;
• Conducting training for entry-level positions in
brownfield revegetation, forestation, and
phytoremediation projects; and
• Supporting career placement of students for one
year 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.
Brownfields Job Training and Development Demonstration Pilot
December2000
Civic Works, Baltimore, Maryland
EPA500-F-00-273
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