www.epa.gov
MAKING A BQffffSmmS IN THE COMMUNITY:
The Superfund Job Training Initiative in Jacksonville, Florida
INTRODUCTION
The Jacksonville Superfund Job Training Initiative (SuperJTI)
is an environmental remediation job readiness program that
provided career development opportunities for 26 trainees living
near two Superfund sites - the Jacksonville Ash and Brown's
Dump sites - in Jacksonville, Florida. The City of Jacksonville's
Project New Ground is implementing cleanups for these sites.
Through a partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), the City of Jacksonville, I-TECH Personnel
Services, Florida State College at Jacksonville, Fresh Ministries
and The Hester Group, Jacksonville SuperJTI provided local
job-seekers with new skills and work experience. EPA's goal is
to help the community create job opportunities and partnerships
that remain long after the site cleanups have been completed.
CANDIDATE OUTREACH, RECRUITMENT
AND SCREENING: MARCH 2010
Jacksonville SuperJTI staff and community partner The Hester
Group created a website, distributed fliers and hosted orientation
sessions to publicize the job training program and attract
interested candidates. The website received over 700 hits and
238 interested candidates attended the program's four orientation
sessions. Following these sessions, 130 people completed a
preliminary testing stage and 94 of those participants were
invited to attend the program's try outs. Forty-three participants
decided to continue with the program try outs.
Program tryouts were conducted over two days and included
leadership, team building and role-playing activities, basic
physical fitness evaluation, and observation by a team of 12
evaluators representing the project's partners. Following the
tryouts, 26 trainees were selected.
I U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
I Technical Assistance Services for Communities
Jacksonville
Jacksonville
Ash Site
V
Fort Lauderdale-
West Palm Beach
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SITE HISTORIES:
JACKSONVILLE ASH AND BROWN'S DUMP
At the turn of the 20th century, the City of Jacksonville burned
its solid waste in incinerators. Ash from those incinerators
was created and/or deposited at four locations north and
west of the downtown area. Although incineration ceased in
the 1960s, ash remains embedded in area soils. Project New
Ground is the city's initiative to remove the ash from these
areas. Three of these areas - the Forest Street Incinerator,
the 5th & Cleveland Incinerator, and the Lonnie C. Miller,
Sr. Park - comprise the Jacksonville Ash Superfund site. The
fourth area is the Brown's Dump Superfund site.
Because Project New Ground is such an extensive project,
cleanup activities will take several years, and are scheduled to
continue through about 2013. The sites are not listed on EPA's
National Priorities List (NPL) of contaminated sites, but are
considered to be NPL-caliber and are being addressed through
the Superfund Alternative Approach. This approach uses the
same investigation and cleanup process and standards used
for sites listed on the NPL.
PROJECT
GROUND
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TRAINING: APRIL 2010
The Jacksonville SuperJTI training consisted of two parts
and took place over the course of three weeks.
• Pre-Employment and Lifeskills Training: Trainees Jacksonville SuperJTI is one of the many SuperJTI job training
, projects nationwide that are making a difference for underserved
completed courses in career planning, interpersonal citizens living in communities affected by Superfund sites.
communication, money management, and effective
work habits. The training was provided by project
partner Fresh Ministries.
• Technical Training: Trainees completed the 40-hour
Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response
(HAZWOPER) training as well as CPR and first aid
training. The training was provided by project partner
Florida State College at Jacksonville.
Upon completion of the program, trainees possess the
marketable skills needed to begin a successful career in
environmental remediation and become valuable members
of the community's workforce. Graduation speakers included City of Jacksonville
Site Investigation and Remediation Manager Jim
Manning (left) and EPA Region 4 Superfund
Program Division Director Franklin E. Hill (right).
THE JACKSONVILLE SUPERJTI TRAINEES:
• Are a diverse group. The trainees include
21 African Americans, 3 Caucasians, and 2
Hispanics. Eight trainees are military veterans.
• Live predominantly in areas affected by the
Superfund sites. Seventy-seven percent of the
trainees (20 people) live in these neighborhoods.
Fifteen percent of the trainees (4 people) live
in other parts of Jacksonville, and eight percent
of the trainees (2 people) live in the greater
Jacksonville area.
• Include younger and older populations. Eleven
trainees are in their 30s or younger. Fifteen
trainees are in their 40s or older.
JOB PLACEMENT AND FOLLOW-UP:
MAY 2010-MAY 2011
Aftergraduation,traineesinterviewedwithprojectpartnerand
site contractor staffing agency I-TECH Personnel Services
for available Project New Ground positions. Graduates were
placed into positions as environmental technicians, dump
truck drivers and heavy equipment operators.
Jacksonville SuperJTI staff will conduct program follow-up
with the graduates as well as their supervisors for one year
after entering into employment. During this time period,
graduates may change positions but are required to maintain
employment, either with Project New Ground or another
employer.
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SJTI COMMUNITY PROFILES: Making a Difference
When Jay Lowe first visited Florida on a business trip, he knew he wanted to stay. "I saw
all this flat land, and it was green all year;" he said. "I knew this was where I wanted to
i * it
Ifc be." As the former police officer and his wife sought employment in northern Florida,
/ '»(/ they heard a radio advertisement for Jacksonville SuperJTI and Lowe decided to
^ attend the orientation session. A longtime martial arts instructor, he had no problems
k \ passing the program's physical exams and was selected as a trainee after passing
\ the program's rigorous screening process. "There were 26 of us who participated
1 in lifeskills and technical training," Lowe said. "We ended up working together a
lot - my favorite part of the training was the problem-solving exercises."
'
Following the training, Jay's commercial driving license and years of experience
as a supervisor made him an ideal candidate for position openings with Project
New Ground. Today, he works as a truck fleet manager for the on-site contractor. "I
find the remediation process quite interesting. We are digging up as much as two feet of
contaminated dirt and replacing it with clean soil," he said. 'The work brings us into regular
contact with property owners at the affected sites, and it's one of the best parts of the job to see what a
difference the cleanup is making for those neighborhoods."
Oracle McClarty was looking for new opportunities. Having heard about Jacksonville
SuperJTI through community partner The Hester Group, she decided to give it
a shot. "Several hundred people showed up initially and, after several days of
interviews and testing, I was chosen to participate in the training program," she
recalled. "Everything was beautiful. We learned how to prepare a resume and
how to grow as a person, both personally and professionally."
Until the 1960s, the City of Jacksonville burned industrial waste in incinerators /*
that caused lead-contaminated ash to settle across area soils. A 52-year-old
Jacksonville native, McClarty grew up unaware of the potential effects of lead
poisoning. 'The school I went to was right next to an incinerator, and we would
often play in the dirt," she said. Now McClarty works as an equipment operator
in a facility that processes the contaminated soil. "My experience in the program
was just beautiful," she said. "We're like one big family."
\
Tommy Manning was eager to get back to work. The former construction worker had
been unemployed for nearly a year when he heard about Jacksonville SuperJTI
through Work Source, a job placement service. "We started out with physical
* ^ assessments to make sure we had the basic strength and flexibility to perform
* the work," he said. "I didn't start out in great shape, but gradually it got easier."
'hen Manning and his fellow trainees took a series of classes focused on self-
mprovement and team building. "I learned a lot about how to budget my
loney," he said. "We also learned how to block out negative influences and
focus on what you can do to make situations more positive."
Growing up in Jacksonville, Manning had some knowledge of the sites and the
contamination, but said that the training gave him a wealth of new knowledge
about public health and safety. "Now I work as a truck driver for Project New
Ground, where I'm able to put my technical training into practical use," he reflected.
Manning also lauds the bonds formed among his classmates. "It's more like we're
O O
friends than co-workers. And I still get a call every month from The Hester Group to see
how the job is going, which is really nice."
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What is the SuperJTI Program?
The Superfund Job Training Initiative, or SuperJTI, supports job readiness programs in
communities affected by nearby Superfund sites and encourages the employment of
trainees at local site cleanups. The SuperJTI program combines extensive classroom
instruction with hands-on work experience for each participant. Upon completion of
the program, each participant possesses the marketable skills required to become a
valuable member of the community's workforce. EPA offers SuperJTI training through
its Technical Assistance Services for Communities (TASC) contract at no cost to training
participants.
For more information, please visit:
www.epa.gov/superfund/community/sfjti
L
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation (5204P)
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20460
EPA 540-FS-10-0011 February 2011 I www.epa.gov/superfund/community/tasc
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