United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, D.C. 20460 Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5101) EPA 500-F-00-174 May 2000 www.epa.gov/brownfields/ Brownfields Job Training and Development Demonstration Pilot City of Los Angeles, CA 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 City of Los Angeles for a Brownfields Job Training and Development Demonstration Pilot. The City of Los Angeles' assessment pilot partner is the City of Los Angeles Brownfields Showcase Community. The Job Training Pilot will focus on Los Angeles' federal Empowerment Zone, which encompasses more than 19 square miles and 200,000 residents. Forty percent of the residents residing in the Empowerment Zone live below the poverty level. Lack of education is one of the primary factors contributing to this economic distress. Almost two-thirds of residents over 25 years of age did not graduate from high school. The City of Los Angeles contains thousands of properties in need of environmental assessment and remediation. The majority of these properties are located within the EmpowermentZone, which includes 7,700 businesses involved in manufacturing and trade. Some of the potentially contaminated properties are now being addressed through the Showcase Community brownfields program; however, many are in an early stage and numerous sites remain to be addressed. A strong demand is expected for trained PILOT SNAPSHOT Date of Announcement: May 2000 Amount: $100,000 Profile: The Pilot will train 50-70 participants as environmental technicians. Students will be recruited from low-income residents of the City'sfederal EmpowermentZone, which contains many potentially contaminated sites that are in the early stages of redevelopment and numerousothersites remaining to be addressed. LosAngeles, California Contacts: City of Los Angeles (213)485-9066 Regional Brownfields Team U.S. EPA - Region 9 (415)744-2237 Visit the E PA Region 9 Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/region09/waste/brown/index.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/ ------- environmental technicians. Local environmental employers have indicated that they have had difficulty recruiting skilled employees and are interested in hiring graduates from the job training program. TRAINING OBJECTIVES The City of Los Angeles plans to train 50-70 participants, achieve an 80 percent placement rate, and support career placement of graduates for one year after the training is completed. Participants will be recruited from low-income residents of the City's federal Empowerment Zone. The Pilot training program will consist of the 40-hour HAZWOPER training and at least 50 hours of training in the use of environmental technologies, including alternative and innovative technologies. Extended training options are available through Pilot partners. The City of Los Angeles' training efforts will be supported by organizations such as the Mayor's Office of Economic Development, Rio Hondo College, Pasadena College, El Camino College, University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), Workforce Investment Board, One Stop Centers (funded by Workforce Investment Act and Welfare to Work programs), and a number of environmental services companies. Local environmental employers have committed to participating on an advisory committee to ensure that the training program will meet employment needs in the area. ACTIVITIES Activities planned as part of this Pilot include: • Conducting outreach to recruit low-income residents of the City's federal Empowerment Zone; • Conducting brownfieldstechniciantraining,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. BrownfieldsJob Training and Development Demonstration Pilot City of Los Angeles, California May 2000 EPA500-F-00-174 ------- |