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Bridging the Needs of the
Community with the Needs of the
Labor Market
Jobs for Youth, Boston
my of the towns and cities in the northeastern United States
developed their economies during the Industrial Age and have an
industrial heritage to prove it. The widespread closure of old mill
buildings and manufacturing facilities led to the decline of local labor
forces and an eventual legacy of long-idle properties. Using the funds
provided through a Brownfields Job Training grant awarded by EPA,
Jobs for Youth-Boston is continuing its efforts to help local residents
develop the technical skills needed to clean up these properties and move
them back into productive use.
Since 1998, Jobs for Youth-Boston has used EPA Brownfields funds to
concentrate its efforts in the Cities of Lynn, Somerville, Chelsea, and
Boston, Massachusetts, targeting low-income residents for recruitment.
In the decade prior to the award of the Pilot, Lynn lost 15,000 jobs due to
a decline in manufacturing, corporate downsizing, and relocation of retail
establishments. In Somerville, the state's most densely populated city,
much of the population lives in proximity to aging industrial and
commercial areas. Although Boston is known as the economic hub of
New England, it has an industrial history and the associated economic
and social blights: poverty, abandoned properties, and pollution.
Following EPA's award of Brownfields Assessment Pilots to Lynn,
Somerville, and Chelsea, studies estimated there were more than 300
brownfields in the area, identifying a community need for skilled
environmental professionals. The Jobs For Youth-Boston Job Training
helped meet this challenge by providing an opportunity to train un- and
under-employed local residents to create a permanent environmental
services workforce.
Through seven training cycles, Jobs for Youth-Boston trained 80 students
in the program and has achieved a 76 percent employment placement
rate to date. Moreover, the graduates are tracked for one year following
completion of the program. Thirty-two percent of the population in Lynn,
Somerville, and Chelsea lives in poverty and 75 percent are minority; the
environmental job training program targets these residents, including
youth and adults living near brownfields, particularly those properties
targeted by Lynn's, Somerville's, and Chelsea's Assessment Pilots. The
training program includes courses about the environmental assessment of
properties, cleanup methods, environmental mapping, and the use of
innovative technologies. Equally important, the trainees received
Students learning through the Jobs For
Youth-Boston Job Training program
JUST THE FACTS:
• FollowingEPA'sawaid of Brownfields
Assessment Pilots to Lynn, Somerville,
and Chelsea, studies estimated that there
were more than 300 brownfields in the area,
identifying a community need for skilled
environmental professionals.
• The Jobs For Youth-Boston Job Training
Program helped meet this challenge by
providing an opportunity to train un- and
under-employed local residents to create a
permanent environmental services
woikfoice.
• Through seven training cycles, Jobs for
Youth-Boston trained 80 students in the
program and has achieved a 76 percent
employment placement rate to date.
One job training
graduate went from struggling
to find another retail positbn amid
widespreaddownsizingtolearningtechnical
skills through the job training program, and
finding a new career as a foreman at a storage
facility owned by a local environmental services
company. He now manages staff who
specialize in the cleanup of petroleum spills
such as waste oil from auto body
shops and gas stations.
continued
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CONTACTS:
For more information contact
U.S. ERA-REGION 1
(617)918-1424
Visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
httpyAvww.eDa.gov/brownfields/
additional support such as classes in remedial math and English, interview
preparation, workplace skills, and resume writing. The combination of job-related
training and support helps ease graduates into the job market to perform
environmental lab analysis, conduct field work, and treat contaminated
properties.
The training efforts of Jobs For Youth-Boston, including curricula
development, are supported by a variety of local employers, colleges and
universities, and other community-based organizations. The partnerships
built with local environmental technology firms also strengthens the grantee's
ability to more directly access information about employment opportunities.
In turn, this allows better matching of job assignments with graduates' skills.
In August 2001, EPA awarded $75,000 in supplemental funding to Jobs for
Youth-Boston and followed that with an additional $50,000 in August 2002. Even
before receiving the supplemental funding, over a two-year period the grantee
leveraged $293,934 from a variety of public and private sources, including the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay.
This funding helped the grantee to continue expanding the job training program; increase the enrollment
base; enrich the curricula to include more innovative technologies, laboratory time, and additional
certifications; and perform post-placement follow-up with graduates.
Jobs For Youth-Boston is making a real difference in the quality of life for graduates and in the
community. One job training graduate, Stan Osinski, went from struggling to find another retail position
amid widespread downsizing to learning technical skills through the job training program, and finding a
new career as a foreman at a storage facility owned by a local environmental
services company. Stan manages staff who specialize in the cleanup of
petroleum spills such as waste oil from auto body shops and gas stations;
they test media, dispose of contaminants, and then ship whatever is left
over to another location for recycling into heating oil for paper factories
and other users.
Graduates of the Job Training program are not only prepared to obtain a
job, they are poised to become active participants in their local economy.
"Brownfields can spur the economy," said Robert W. Varney, EPA New
England Regional Administrator. "These grants will go a long way to
ensuring that there is a trained work force ready to take on the work of
cleaning up these sites and getting them back into productive use."
1
Graduates of the Jobs for Youth-Boston
Job Training program
Brownfields Success Story
Jobs for Youth-Boston
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-00-254
March 2004
www. epa.gov/brownfields/
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