SEPA
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-99-103
May 1999
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Brownfields Job Training
and Development
Demonstration Pilot
Universidad Metropolitans, Puerto Rico
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101)
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 $200,000 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 $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds
to make loans forthe 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 Universidad Metropolitana
(UMET) for a Brownfields Job Training and
Development Demonstration Pilot. UMET's
Brownfields Assessment Pilot partner is the Puerto
Rico Industrial Development Company (PRIDCO).
The Job Training Pilot targets a 300-acre, densely
populated community in downtown San Juan, Puerto
Rico, known as Peninsula de Cantera (population
11,500). Residents in this Hispanic community suffer
from an 82 percent poverty rate and a 35 percent
unemployment rate among adults participating in the
labor force. Less than one-quarter of the residents
have finished high school.
The Brownfields Assessment Pilot centers on a
former electroplating site in Peninsula de Cantera,
which will serve as amodel for abroader brownfields
redevelopmentprogram in San Juan. The electroplating
site has been vacant since 1985 because PRIDCO
has been unable to overcome the stigma of potential
contamination. The community is currently working
with PRIDCO on plans to convert the site into a
recycling facility. Puerto Rico's intergovernmental
efforts to establish a brownfields redevelopment
program and the extreme economic distress of
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Atlantic Ocean
cr?
Puerto Rico
Universidad
Metropolitana,
Puerto Rico
Date of Announcement:
May 1999
Amount: $199,672
Profile: The Pilot will train 30
participants in a Professional Certificate
Program for Environmental
Technicians, including the use of
innovative assessment and cleanup
technologies. Students will be recruited
from the distressed Peninsula de
Cantera community of San Juan.
Contacts:
Universidad Metropolitana
(787)766-1717
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 2
(212)637-4314
Visit the EPA Region 2 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/r02earth/superfnd/brownfld/bfmainpg.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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Peninsula de Cantera indicate aneed for environmental
training.
TRAINING OBJECTIVES
UMET plans to train 3 0 students with the EPA grant,
achieve an 80 percent placement rate, and track
students for one year. Participants will be recruited
from the distressed Peninsula de Cantera community.
The Pilot training will consist of a 36 credit-hour
Professional Certificate Program for Environmental
Technicians, including the use of innovative
assessment and cleanup technologies.
The training efforts of UMET will be supported by
organizations such as PRIDCO, the Northeast
Hazardous Substance Research Center, the
Environmental Quality Board, Caribe Environmental
Services, In-Site Environmental, U.S. Departmentof
Housing and Urban Development, and the Residents
Council of Peninsulade Cantera. UMET will establish
an Advisory Committee with representation from
these partners and other local community-based
organizations.
ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Conducting outreach to recruit disadvantaged
residents of Peninsula de Cantera;
• Conducting environmental technician training,
including courses in the use of innovative assessment
and cleanup technologies; and
• Supporting career placement of students foratleast
one year after the job training is completed.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this factsheetare subjectto change.
Brownfields Job Training and Development Demonstration Pilot
May 1999
Universidad Metropolitana, Puerto Rico
EPA 500-F-99-103
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