SEPA United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, D.C. 20460 Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5105) EPA 500-F-01-356 December 2001 www.epa.gov/brownfields/ Brownfields Job Training and Development Demonstration Pilot DC Department of Health, Washington, DC 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 EPA has selected the Washington, DC, Department of Health for a Brownfields Job Training and Development Demonstration Pilot. The DC Department of Health also is the recipient of a Brownfields Assessment Pilot and a Brownfields Cleanup Revolving LoanFundPilot. Washington, DC (population 529,000) is a community of many neighborhoods. The District's Enterprise Zone encompasses 65 of its 193 communities and half of the land available for development. Over two-thirds of the District's residents are minorities. The unemployment rate in the District is twice the national average, and almost 20% of residents live in poverty. The District is experiencing an economic resurgence after decades of decline, and the pressure to assess, remediate, and redevelop the City' s numerous vacant industrial and commercial sites is intensifying. The Job Training Pilot is needed to help ensure that Districtresidents benefit from the stable environmental jobs that this pressure will produce and that local businesses will have a pool of trained environmental technicians from which to hire employees. PILOT SNAPSHOT Washington, DC Contacts: DC Department of Health (202)442-8982 Date of Announcement: December 2001 Amount: $200,000 Profile: The Pilot will train 58 students as environmental technicians. Students will be recruited from disadvantaged residents of communities impacted by brownfields in the District of Columbia, where unemployment is twice the national average. 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/ 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/ ------- TRAINING OBJECTIVES The DC Department of Health plans to train 58 students, achieve an 80% placementrate, and support career placement of graduates for two years after the training is completed. Students will be recruited from disadvantagedresidents of communities impacted by brownfields. The Pilot training program will include HAZWOPER, lead and asbestos abatement, OSHA construction worker, hazardous communication, confined space, brownfields and site assessment, and sampling and sample management, including training in the use of innovative assessment and cleanup technologies. The training efforts of the DC Department of Health will be supported by organizations such as the Alice Hamilton Occupational Health Center, STRIVE, Bridges to Friendship, Howard University, and Home Engineering Services. Evening advanced training courses will be provided for free to working graduates of the Pilot. ACTIVITIES Activities planned as part of this Pilot include: • Conducting outreach to recruit disadvantaged residents of communities impacted by brownfields; • 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 two years 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 DC Department of Health, Washington, DC EPA500-F-01-356 ------- |