ŁEPA
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-01-355
December 2001
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Brownfields Job Training
and Development
Demonstration Pilot
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental
Control (DNREC), Wilmington, Delaware
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 $250,000 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
EPAhas selected the State of Delaware's Department
of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
(DNREC) for a Brownfields Job Training and
Development Demonstration Pilot. DNREC's
ssessment pilot partner is the City of Wilmington
Brownfields Assessment Pilot. The Job Training
Pilot will focus on the Southbridge and East Wilmington
communities of Wilmington (population 73,000). The
two communities (population 8,000) are depressed,
inner-city neighborhoods in which two-thirds of the
residents are minorities. Unemployment in the two
communities is significantly higher than the city wide
rate.
The City of Wilmington has a 200-year history of
industrial activity. Through the Brownfields
Assessment Pilot, the city has identified 126
brownfields. A quarter of the City's lands are
brownfields. Assessments conducted by the
Brownfields Assessment Pilot are expected to
generate six to ten specific remediation projects. The
City has afederallydesignatedEnterprise Community
that will provide incentives for redevelopment of
brownfields. Local environmental contractors have
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Wilmington,
Delaware
Date of Announcement:
December 2001
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot will train 50
students as environmental
technicians. Students will be
recruited from theundereducated
and underemployed residents of
the Southbridge and East
Wilmington communities, which
havesuffered adisproportionate
burden from the 126 brownfields
identified in the City.
Contacts:
Delaware DNREC
(302)739-4271
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 3
(215)814-3246
Visit the E PA Region 3 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region03/contact.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/
-------
expressed interest in hiring local residents trained as
environmental technicians to participate in new
redevelopment projects.
TRAINING OBJECTIVES
The Department of Natural Resources and
Environmental Control plans to train 50 students,
achieve an 80% graduation rate, achieve a 75%
placement rate among graduates, and support career
placement of graduates for one year after the training
is completed. Students will be recruited from among
undereducated and underemployed residents of the
Southbridge and East Wilmington communities. The
152-hour Pilot training program will consist of
HAZWOPER, introduction to environmental issues
(including 20 hours on innovative and alternative
remediation technologies), asbestos worker course,
lead abatement worker course, and OSHA
construction safety.
The training efforts of DNREC will be supported by
organizations such as Delaware Technical and
Community College, Delaware Department of Labor,
City of Wilmington, New Millennium Community
Development Corporation, Wilmington Enterprise
Community, and employers in the environmental
consulting field. Delaware Technical and Community
College plans to develop a continuing education
program to further opportunities for program
graduates.
ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Conducting outreach to recruit undereducated and
underemployed residents of the Southbridge and
East Wilmington communities;
• Conducting training for entry-level positions as
brownfields 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
December2001
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
EPA500-F-01-355
------- |