JFYNetWorks
Boston, Massachusetts
F. Scott Fitzgerald said American lives have no second acts. Alan Arrajj would respectfully disagree.
Alan was laid off from his construction job in September, 2009. The Worcester resident was 40.
With the long term decline of construction and manufacturing, compounded by the recession,
Alan wasn't sure where a 40 year-old unemployed construction worker could find a living
wage—or any wage.
Looking through help wanted ads in the newspaper, he saw one for an Environmental
Technology Training Program at a non-profit agency in Boston called JFYNetWorks. He
liked the sound of Environmental Technology, and the idea that there might be a job at the
end of the training. He went to the information session and listened to the program director,
Larry Elgart, describe how demanding the 14-week training was, with environmental science,
college-level chemistry and eight industry certifications including the 40-hour OSHA
HAZWOPER; and how tough the jobs would be for those making it to graduation. The
challenge appealed to him and he decided to apply.
Alan passed all the entrance requirements and started class in October 2009. The warnings
were true—it was the hardest course he had ever taken. He had not been inside a classroom
since finishing his GED in 1997 and his study skills were rusty. When his mother died in the
middle of the training, he had to dig deep to find the strength to make it through. But Larry,
case manager Pat Pestana, and his other instructors and classmates rallied to support him with
phone calls, emails and unyielding encouragement. On January 29, 2010, fourteen weeks after
taking the plunge, Alan had his certificate of completion.
Alan started the job search process he had learned in the program. By June he had a job with A
& E Environmental in Westminster, MA, as an Asbestos Supervisor. That was a good start, but
he kept looking, and in July of 2010 he landed a position with Entrix Environmental as a Field
Technician on the BP oil spill. Overtime was plentiful and the work went on seven days a week.
The company also paid his living expenses and travel. He worked for three months at sea in
the Gulf of Mexico cleaning the oil spill. But he wanted to come back to Massachusetts, and in
November 2010 Brown and Caldwell, an environmental engineering and consulting firm with
offices all over the country, offered him a position as a Field Service Technician III in Andover,
MA. Only a month later he was promoted to Site Safety Officer/Hydro Geologist/Geologist I.
Needless to say, Alan is happy with the outcome of his JFYNetWorks EPA-sponsored training.
Less than a year after being laid off at 40, he was making twice as much money in a new career
with big responsibilities and opportunities. The former "unemployed, overage construction
worker" is now a skilled manager in the growing field of environmental services. It's an
industry that doesn't balloon and collapse with the business cycle, and it's a job that can't be
shipped overseas. Best of all, it's an opportunity to make a real contribution to things Alan
cares about: public safety, conserving natural resources, protecting the environment, and
the future.
Alan proved Mr. F. Scott Fitzgerald dead
wrong: his second act is even better than his
first. Thanks to EPA and JFYNetWorks, he is
in a position to help ensure that our regional
economy will provide job opportunities
for others like himself, people with a lot to
contribute if they can only get some training
and a chance. Through its EPA-sponsored Job
Training, JFYNetWorks has produced nearly
400 graduates, with a placement rate of more
than 80 percent. The average entry-level job
pays nearly $30,000 per year. JFYNetWorks environmental job training graduate Alan Arrajj.
For more information on EPA's Environmental
Workforce Development and
Job Training Program, please visit:
www.epa.gov/brownfields/job.htm
EPAs
Environmental
Workforce
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
tand
Job Training
Program
Or contact your EPA Regional Office:
Region 1 • CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT
(617) 918-1429
Region 2 • NJ, NY, PR, VI
(212) 637-3283
Region 3 » DE, DC, MD, PA, VA, WV
(215) 814-3246
Region 4 • AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN
(404) 562-8660
Region 5 » IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI
(312) 886-4747
Region 6 » AR, LA, NM, OK, TX
(214) 665-6682
(214)665-3172
Region 7 • IA, KS, MO, NE
(913)551-7357
Region 8 » CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, WY
(303) 312-6019
Region 9 • AZ, CA, HI, NV, AS, GU
(213) 244-1821
(415) 972-3270
Region 10 » AK, ID, OR, WA
(206)553-6378
f- >
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA-560-F-11-019
March 2011
www.epa.gov/brownfields
> Brownfields Job Training Program
- - •
-------
U.S. EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response
Environmental Workforce Development and
Job Training Program
Job Training Highlights
EPA has provided 169 total
brownfields job training grants
Job Training Grants total more
than $35 million
More than 6,700 participants
have completed EPA-funded
training
More than 4,400 graduates
have obtained employment with
an average starting hourly wage
of $14.69
Formerly known as the Brownfields Job Training
Program prior to 2011, EPA's Environmental
Workforce Development and Job Training
program provides grants on a competitive basis
to nonprofit organizations and other eligible
entities to recruit, train, and place predominantly
low-income and minority, unemployed and
under-employed residents, including veterans,
from solid and hazardous waste-impacted
communities. Residents learn the skills needed to
secure full-time, sustainable employment in the
environmental field, including a focus on assessment
and cleanup activities. These grants help prepare
people for green jobs that reduce environmental
contamination and provide more sustainable futures
for the communities most affected by solid and
hazardous waste contamination. This brochure includes two case studies highlighting the
accomplishments and successes of job training grantees.
Since 1998, EPA has provided 169 Brownfields Job Training grants totaling over $35
million. Ofthe more than 6,700 who have completed EPA-funded training, more than
4,400 obtained employment in the environmental field, earning an average starting wage
of $14.69/hour. The graduates of these programs promote EPA's goals of sustainable land
reuse and environmental protection, not only through cleanup of site contamination and
sustainable redevelopment of brownfields, but also by applying knowledge that reflects
today's environmental and energy opportunities.
This program brings together community groups, job training organizations, Workforce
Investment Boards and Career One Stop centers, educators, community colleges, labor
groups, investors, lenders, developers, and environmental contractors to jointly provide
environmental employment and training for residents in communities impacted by
contaminated properties. Local training programs must demonstrate connections to
real employment opportunities by working with employers to survey training and hiring
needs as well as building partnerships where training results in long-term, sustainable
employment before submitting a proposal for grant funding.
Types of Training
Based on conversations with local training providers and placement agencies, traditional
training in hazardous waste related remediation still seems to be a steady guarantee for
placement of graduates. This includes traditional "clean up" certifications in lead and
asbestos abatement, HAZWOPER, OSHA, confined space entry, mold remediation, and
a solid foundation in environmental site sampling, as well as supplemental training in
construction skills and the trades.
Additionally, the Program has learned through the years that by providing comprehensive
training in a variety of environmental skills and certifications, graduates are more likely
to secure not only short-term contractual assessment and cleanup work, but full-time
careers within the environmental field. Examples of eligible supplemental training include:
Green remediation techniques,
Federal facilities and Superfund
site-specific cleanup,
Recycling center operator training,
Recycling of demolition materials,
Spill response and cleanup,
First responder, disaster site worker,
first-aid, and emergency response,
Site surveying, blueprint reading,
inventorying, mapping, and GIS,
Commercial driver's license (CDL),
heavy machinery operations, forklift
operator, and HAZMAT,
Weatherization and energy auditing,
Landscaping, native plant revegetation,
and ecological restoration,
Stormwater management design and low
impact development,
Site preparation for solar and renewable
energy, and
Leaking underground storage tank
removal.
Job Training Graduates:
Rising to the Challenge of Greening the U.S. Economy
Throughout the United States, recent program graduates are applying their improved
skills to the demands of a "greening economy." As a result ofthe country's shift from an
industrial-based economy, thousands of abandoned manufacturing properties, including
brownfields, Superfund Sites, and other solid and hazardous waste sites dot the country's
landscape. Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Program graduates
are among the vanguard of green economy workers cleaning up and redeveloping these
sites. Other graduates, by adding to industrial-sector skill sets through supplemental
training, are filling emerging green jobs such as solar energy system installation, green
infrastructure installation, or energy efficiency auditing/installation. Employers are
benefitting from the experience, dedication, and place-based connections that Program
graduates bring to these revitalizing jobs in their home communities.
King County Work Training Program
King County, Washington
In a writeup titled, "Beyond Bars: Program trains offenders for green jobs Beyond Bars,"
the King County Brownfield Jobs Training Program was highlighted as one of two
workforce development programs in Washington State honored by Governor Christine
Gregoire. Through its Brownfields Job Training Program, King County helps formerly
incarcerated County residents move beyond the stigma of jail time and into living-wage
"green jobs" focused on environmental cleanup. The program won the "Governor's
Workforce and Economic Development Best Practices Award" in 2010.
The King County Jobs Initiative (KCJI) is a long-standing program with a proven track
record. Established in 1998, the program serves low-income, disadvantaged residents of
South King County, and has placed more than 1,500 students into full-time employment.
Participants are trained in high-demand, environmental skills including hazardous waste
removal.
In 2007, KCJI took on a new challenge by focusing exclusively on those with recent
criminal records. This population is among the hardest to serve, as employers are often
reluctant to hire those with prior convictions. Many ex-offenders also have low education
levels, limited work experience and other major barriers to getting jobs.
Focusing on the offender population has required KCJI to gain a deeper understanding
ofthe criminal justice system and the many organizations that serve this population.
"KCJI has been
successful in overcoming employer hesitation
to hiring workers with criminal records
because of its close relationship with employers
and its history of providing skilled workers in the past.'
—Carolyn Bledsoe,
KCJI Program Manager
Program staff developed relationships
with state and county Work
Release Programs and the
King County Department
of Adult and Juvenile
Detention, jails and
other community groups
serving this population. The
program also enhanced its job
clubs, training and job readiness
to focus on the barriers many former
offenders face.
Today, 100 percent of the Brownfield Job Training program's participants have a prior
conviction.
According to Program Manager Carolyn Bledsoe, "KCJI has been successful in overcoming
employer hesitation to hiring workers with criminal records because of its close relationship
with employers and its history of providing skilled workers in the past."
KCJI works with community-based organizations, community and technical colleges,
labor unions, employers and others to create customized training that meets employers'
specific job needs. To date, King County has trained over 314 participants and placed over
218 into jobs with an average wage of $17.66 an hour. The Program provides an advanced,
238-hour curriculum in topics such as HAZWOPER, soil vapor extraction, bioremediation,
wastewater treatment, lead and asbestos abatement, and confined space. Graduates
also receive Basic Science, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and
construction readiness certifications upon completion.
The Program has had many success stories throughout the years, but the most compelling
stories reflect the challenges of our current participants and our employers. Three young
women, Amani, Daema and Kelly graduated from the Program and are working with wages
ranging from $14 to $30 an hour. They all told KCJI how honored they were to be able
to participate in the brownfields training and find good paying jobs in spite of their past
mistakes. Each of their employers has provided them with additional training and a host of
other skill sets for promotional opportunities.
Another KCJI success story involves Roy, who completed the training but immediately fell
out of touch. Three months later,
Roy contacted his case manager
and explained that he was grateful
for the training and had partnered
with another person to form a
small, minority owned contracting
company. One of the contracts the
company landed was a long-term
agreement that would pay him and
another worker $40 per hour. Roy
has since been a guest speaker at
the program, where he encouraged
participants to be persistent and not
to give up while seeking employment.
He also stressed the value of the
training and his belief that there are
limitless opportunities for graduates
who are dedicated to finding jobs. students ofthe Ki"9 9°"^* Traini"9 Pr°9ram
participate in HAZMAT training.
------- |