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/
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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
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