United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-276
December 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
SEPA
Brownfields Job Training
and Development
Demonstration Pilot
City of Shreveport, LA
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 the City of Shreveport for a
Brownfields Job Training and Development
Demonstration Pilot. The City of Shreveport also is
the recipient of a Brownfields Assessment Pilot and
a Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund grant.
The City already has made a loan to fund cleanup of
a site for Shreveport's new $85 million convention
center. Shreveport (population 198,000) is located in
northwestern Louisiana and is at the crossroads of
major rail and highway systems that transport high
volumes of hazardous materials. City residents suffer
from a 24% poverty rate and an 11% unemployment
rate. Almost half of the city's residents have not
graduated from high school.
The Job Training Pilot will focus on several
neighborhoods in the inner city. Shreveport's inner
city contains hundreds of acres of former industrial
sites that lie derelict due to the presence or threat of
contaminants. Employment has suffered since the
"Oil Bust" of the 1980s when the area lost more than
10,000 jobs. The Job Training Pilot will help residents
access new jobs created by the assessment and
cleanup of brownfields that is being stimulated by the
PILOT SNAPSHOT
City of Shreveport,
Louisiana
Date of Announcement:
December2000
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot will train 48
participants as brownfields
technicians. Students will be
recruited from inner-city
neighborhoods, which contain
hundreds of acres of former
industrial sites that lie derelictas
a result of the "Oil Bust" of the
1980s.
Contacts:
City of Shreveport
(318)673-5009
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 6
(214)665-2200
Visit the EPA Region 6 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6sf/bfpages/sfbfhome.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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Brownfields Assessment and Revolving Loan Fund
Pilots. There currently is no resource in North Louisiana
certified to train qualified abatement contractors and
workers.
TRAINING OBJECTIVES
The City of Shreveport plans to train 48 participants,
achieve an 85% placement rate, and support career
placement of graduates for one year after the training
is completed. Participants will be recruited from
residents of neighborhoods impacted by brownfields.
The 200-hour Pilottraining program will use an existing
curriculum that includes construction skills,
environmental health and safety, 80-hour general
construction, 40-hour lead abatement, 40-hourasbestos
abatement, soil sampling, water testing, and
bioremediation, including training in the use of innovative
assessment and remediation technologies.
The training efforts of the City of Shreveport will be
supported by organizations such as Southern
University-Shreveport, the Shreveport Fire Academy,
Xavier University, and the Laborers AGC. Eight local
employers have committed to hire participants to fill
environmental j obs.
ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Conducting outreach to recruit residents from six
neighborhoods in the inner city that have been
impacted by the presence of brownfields.
• Conducting training for entry-level positions as
brownfields field technicians, including courses in
the use of innovative assessment and cleanup
technologies; 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
Applicant, County, State
EPA500-F-00-276
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