United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-178
May 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Brownfields Job Training
and Development
Demonstration Pilot
St. Louis Community College, MO and IL
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 St. Louis Community College for a
Brownfields Job Training and Development
Demonstration Pilot. St. Louis Community College's
assessment pilot partners are the City of St. Louis,
Missouri, and the City of East St. Louis, Illinois. The
Job Training Pilot will focus on neighborhoods in the
St. Louis/East St. Louis/Wellston federal
Empowerment Zone. Residents of the Empowerment
Zone are primarily African American, although there
has been a dramatic increase in the number of
immigrants from Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.
Residents suffer from a 47 percent poverty rate, and
62 percent of the area's children live in poverty. Only
half of the students in the area complete high school,
and the unemployment rate is correspondingly high at
24 percent. The St. Louis area has undergone an
epidemic of lead poisoning, and asbestos is a major
health threat in the community.
The economy of the St. Louis area has changed
dramatically overthe past 50 years. Many warehouses,
factories, and other commercial buildings are vacant,
and many brownfield sites are contaminated by various
hazardous materials. The St. Louis and East St. Louis
Brownfields Assessment Pilots are helping to stimulate
redevelopment efforts in the Empowerment Zone.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
St. Louis, Missouri
and
East St. Louis,
Illinois
Date of Announcement:
May 2000
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot will train 50 partici-
pants as environmental technicians.
Students will be recruited from low-
income, Welfare-to-Work, and unem-
ployed residents of the federal St.
Louis/East St. Louis/Wellston Em-
powerment Zone, which is comprised
of severely depressed neighborhoods
suffering from years of disinvestment
in the area's commercial and indus-
trialfacilities.
Contacts:
St. Louis Community College
(314)381-1848
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 7
(913)551-7964
Visit the E PA Region 7 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region07/specinit/brown/
brownfields.htm
Forfurtherinformation,includingspecific 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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The severely depressed economic conditions and
number of brownfields sites in the area indicate a
strong need for an environmental training program.
Properly trained environmental technicians are in high
demand by St. Louis employers.
TRAINING OBJECTIVES
St. Louis Community College plans to train 50
participants, achieve a75 percentplacementrate, and
support career placement of graduates for one year
after the training is completed. Participants will be
recruited from low-income, Welfare-to-Work, and
unemployed residents of the federal Empowerment
Zone. The Pilot training program will consist of 190
hours of classes over a six-week period, including
courseson environmental technologies, HAZWOPER,
lead and asbestos abatement, OSHA 30-hour general
construction, and ecosystem restoration, including
training in the use of innovative assessment and
cleanup technologies. OSHA-approved instructors
will conduct the training for general construction.
St. Louis Community College' s training efforts will be
supported by organizations such as Work Link, St.
Louis University Center for Education and Training,
St. Louis Development Corporation, U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, St. Louis Regional Jobs Initiative, St.
Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association,
Workforce Partners of Metro St. Louis, New Spirit
Neighborhood Organizing Office, and St. Louis Urban
Male Resource Center. St. Louis Community College
will offergraduates continuing education opportunities.
A bi-state Workforce Development Advisory Group
will assist the program meet employer needs.
ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Conducting outreach to recruitlow-income, Welfare-
to-Work, and unemployed residents of the 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
May2000
St. Louis Community College, Missouri and Illinois
EPA500-F-00-178
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