United States
                 Environmental
                 Protection Agency
                 Washington, D.C.  20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
      EPA 500-F-98-245
      August 1998
  &EPA   Brownfields Job Training
                  and  Development
                  Demonstration  Pilot
                              New Jersey Youth  Corps,
  	Came/en  and  Newark,  NJ
  Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101)
               Quick Reference Fact Sheet
The Brownfields Job Training and Development Demonstration Pilots will each be funded up to $200,000 over
two years. These Pilots will bring together community groups, job training organizations, educators, labor groups,
investors, lenders, developers, and other affected parties to address the issue of providing environmental
employment and training for residents in communities impacted by brownfields.  The goals of the Pilots are to
facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites contaminated with hazardous substances and prepare trainees for
employment in the environmental field, including training in alternative or innovative treatment technologies.
BACKGROUND

EPA has selected the New Jersey Youth Corps for
a Brownfields Job Training and Development
Demonstration Pilot. The New Jersey Youth
Corps plans to concentrate its workforce develop-
ment efforts in the Cities of Camden and Newark,
New Jersey, both of which are Brownfields
Assessment Demonstration Pilots.

Both Cities are primarily minority and State Urban
Enterprise Zones. Camden is a Federal Empower-
ment Zone and Newark is a Federal Enterprise
Community. Camden is one of the three poorest
cities in the country. It suffers from a 16.3%
unemployment rate, 40% poverty rate, and a more
than 70% high school dropout rate. Newark's
poverty rate is 26% and its per capita income is
one of the lowest of the 50 largest cities in the
country. Fifty percent of Newark's students drop
out of school by the ninth grade. A decline in
industrial activity in both Cities has resulted in
numerous abandoned or underused brownfields.
Efforts by the State of New Jersey and the  Cities
of Camden and Newark to address high unemploy-
ment and low education levels and to assess and
clean up brownfields create a strong need for
environmental training.
  PILOT SNAPSHOT
 New Jersey Youth Corps,
  Camden and Newark,
     NewJersey
  Date of Announcement:
  August 1998

  Amount: $200,000

  Profile: The Pilot targets
  primarily minority young
  adults who have
  voluntarily entered the
  New Jersey Youth Corps,
  are unemployed or
  underemployed, and are
  living in Camden and
  Newark communities
  directly affected by
  brownfields sites.
Contacts:

New Jersey
Youth Corps
(609) 588-3198
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 2
(212)637-4291
     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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TRAINING OBJECTIVES

The New Jersey Youth Corps plans to train 60
students with the EPA grant, achieve a 90%
placement rate, and track students for one year.
Participants to be targeted are young adults
between the ages  of 16 and 25 who  have voluntar-
ily entered the New Jersey Youth Corps, are
unemployed or underemployed, are mostly minority,
and lack a high school diploma.  The Pilot training
program will consist of a 150-hour brownfields
assessment and cleanup training program, which
will include training in the use of innovative tech-
nologies. Further training will be provided for
participants as needed to assist in job placement.
The New Jersey Youth Corps' training efforts will
be supported by organizations such as the New
Jersey Institute of Technology, International Youth
Organization of Newark, and Work Group of
Camden.

ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Developing a curriculum for brownfields
 assessment and  cleanup; and

• Conducting training in site assessment, cleanup
 methods, and the use of innovative technologies.

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                           New Jersey Youth Corps,
 August 1998                                                           Camden and Newark, New Jersey
                                                                                 EPA 500-F-98-245

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