United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-98-242
August 1998
&EPA Brownfields Job Training
and Development
Demonstration Pilot
Metropolitan Community
Colleges, Kansas City, MO
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101)
Quick Reference Fact Sheet
The Brownfields Job Training and Development Demonstration Pilots will each be funded up to $200,000 over
two years. These Pilots will bring together community groups, job training organizations, educators, labor groups,
investors, lenders, developers, and other affected parties to address the issue of providing environmental
employment and training for residents in communities impacted by brownfields. The goals of the Pilots are to
facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites contaminated with hazardous substances and prepare trainees for
employment in the environmental field, including training in alternative or innovative treatment technologies.
BACKGROUND
EPA has selected the Metropolitan Community
Colleges in Kansas City, Missouri, for a
Brownfields Job Training and Development Dem-
onstration Pilot. The Metropolitan Community
Colleges will concentrate their workforce develop-
ment efforts in the Cities of Kansas City, Missouri
and Kansas, which are a bi-State Brownfields
Assessment Demonstration Pilot.
The Job Training Pilot will target unemployed,
welfare-to-work, and other disadvantaged residents
of the bi-State, Federally designated Enhanced
Enterprise Community. The Enhanced Enterprise
Community comprises the urban cores of Kansas
City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri. The
50,000 residents of this area are 79% minority,
suffer from a 39% poverty rate, and are 16.6%
unemployed. Almost half of the residents do not
have a high school diploma.
The area was once a national center for the meat
packing, agricultural, railroad, and manufacturing
industries. Floods and economic changes have
displaced much of the area's industrial base,
resulting in the presence of many abandoned and
underused properties. The efforts of the two Cities
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Metropolitan Community
Colleges, Kansas City,
Missouri
Date of Announcement:
August 1998
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets
unemployed, welfare-to-
work, and other
disadvantaged residents
of the Federally
designated Kansas City
Enhanced Enterprise
Community, which
comprises the urban cores
of Kansas City, Kansas
and Kansas City, Missouri.
Contacts:
Metropolitan Community Regional Brownfields Team
Colleges, Kansas City, U.S. EPA - Region 7
Missouri (913)551-7786
(816)482-5470
Visit the EPA Region 7 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region07/specinit/brown/
brownfields.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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to assess and clean up brownfields in the Enhanced
Enterprise Community and the economic distress
of the area's residents indicate a need for environ-
mental training.
TRAINING OBJECTIVES
The Metropolitan Community Colleges plan to train
100 students with the EPA grant, achieve at least a
65% placement rate, and track students for up to
one year. Participants to be targeted will be the
unemployed, welfare-to-work, and other disadvan-
taged residents of the bi-State Enhanced Enterprise
Community. The Pilot training program will consist
often modules encompassing standard and innova-
tive environmental assessment and cleanup tech-
nologies, and community involvement. The training
efforts of the Metropolitan Community Colleges
will be supported by organizations such as the
Kansas City Brownfields Initiative Project, Great
Plains-Rocky Mountain Hazardous Substance
Research Center, and the Local Investment
Commission.
ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Developing a curriculum for brownfields
assessment and cleanup;
• Conducting brownfields assessment and cleanup
training, including courses in the use of innovative
assessment and cleanup technologies; and
• Conducting outreach to recruit unemployed,
welfare-to-work, and other disadvantaged
residents of the bi-State Enhanced Enterprise
Community.
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 Metropolitan Community Colleges,
August 1998 Kansas City, Missouri
EPA 500-F-98-242
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