SEPA
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-99-098
May 1999
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Brownfields Job Training
and Development
Demonstration Pilot
Bucks County Community College, PA
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 Bucks County Community College
for a Brownfields Job Training and Development
Demonstration Pilot. The community college's
Brownfields Assessment Pilot partner is Bucks
County, which is located along the Delaware River in
eastern Pennsylvania. The Job Training Pilot will
focus on sixmunicipalities (population 272,000) in the
county's state-designated Enterprise Zone. The six
municipalities are among the nation's oldest
communities and the county's most populous. Over
the past two decades, the loss of 10,000 jobs from
steel manufacturing facilities and general industrial
downsizing has left the Enterprise Zone with the
county's highest unemployment rates. In some areas,
23 percent of the residents are unemployed.
There are more than three square miles of vacant
property as well as a significant number of underused
buildings in the Enterprise Zone. The properties are
not being redeveloped primarily because of perceived
environmental contamination. Economic and
community-based revitalization initiatives in the
Enterprise Zone and a lack of trained technicians in
the area indicate a need for environmental training.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Bucks County
Community College,
Pennsylvania
Date of Announcement:
May 1999
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot will train 30
participants as brownfields
technicians. Students will be
recruited from a state-designated
Enterprise Zone encompassing six
municipalities along the Delaware
River that are economically
depressed as a result of the loss of
heavy industries and general
industrialdownsizing.
Contacts:
Bucks County
Community College
(215)968-8190
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 3
(215)814-3129
Visit the EPA Region 3 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/brownfld/hmpage1.htm
For further 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
Bucks County Community College plans to train 30
students atanewly renovated campus in the Enterprise
Zone, achieve an 80 percent placement rate, and
track graduates for at least one year. Participants will
be recruited from the disadvantaged residents of the
Enterprise Zone. The Pilot training program will
consist of a 14-week brownfield technician training
program, including training in the use of innovative
assessment and cleanup technologies.
The training efforts of Bucks County Community
College will be supported by organizations such as the
Redevelopment Authority of Bucks County, Langan
Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc., Penn
Environmental & Remediation, Inc., and Bucks County
Office of Employment and Training, Inc. The college
is developing a career ladder leading to an Associate' s
Degree, and local environmental engineering firms
have committed to providing internships for students.
ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Conducting outreach to recruit disadvantaged
residents of the Enterprise Zone;
• Conducting brownfield 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 subject to change.
Brownfields Job Training and De velopment Demonstration Pilot Bucks County Community College, Pennsylvania
May 1999 EPA 500-F-99-098
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