SEPA
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-99-097
May 1999
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Brownfields Job Training
and Development
Demonstration Pilot
Bernalillo County, NM
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 Bernalillo County foraBrownfields
Job Training and Development Demonstration Pilot.
The county, which includes the City of Albuquerque,
is also the recipient of a Brownfields Assessment
Pilot. The Bernalillo County Pilot will target the
unincorporated area of South Valley (population
75,495), which is located along the Rio Grande River
in a State-de signaled Enterprise Zone. It is one of the
region's oldest areas, originally settled by Spanish
families in the early 18th Century. South Valley's
residents are 73 percent Hispanic, and approximately
48 percent of its students do not complete high school.
South Valley's poverty rate is significantly higher than
the county-wide average of 18 percent.
The Pilot areais the most industrialized of the county's
unincorporated areas and contains the majority of the
county's brownfields. Large volumes of the shallow
aquifer beneath South Valley have become
contaminated by industrial activity. Bernalillo's efforts
to revitalize the South Valley area and the need to
create jobs for disadvantaged South Valley residents
indicate a need for this Pilot.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Bernalillo County,
NewMexico
Date of Announcement:
May 1999
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot will train 60
participants as environmental
technicians. Students will be
recruited from low-income
residents of the unincorporated,
industrial South Valley area,
which is located near
Albuquerque and within a State
EnterpriseZone.
Contacts:
Bernalillo County
(505)924-3651
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 6
(214)665-6736
Visit the EPA Region 6 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6sf/bfpages/sfbfhome.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
Bernalillo County plans to train 60 students, achieve
a 70 percent placement rate, and track students for
one year after the training has been completed.
Participants will be recruited from local providers of
the Welfare-to-Work and Temporary Assistance to
Needy Families programs. The job training program
will consist of environmental technician training,
including training in the use of innovative assessment
and cleanup technologies. Potential employers have
committedto hiring local residents for environmental
assessment and cleanup jobs. In addition, the county
will place graduates on a list of people to be re-hired
under county contracts and to receive further training.
The training efforts of Bernalillo County will be
supported by organizations such as the Albuquerque
Technical Vocation Institute, Rio Grande Community
Development Corporation, Middle Rio Grande Council
of Governments, Acme Environmental, Agra
Environmental, YouthBuild New Mexico Coalition,
and the City of Albuquerque Family and Community
Services Department. A broad-based Advisory
Committee will be established to help guide the Pilot
training program.
ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Conducting outreach to recruit low-income residents
of the South Valley area;
• Conducting environmental technician training,
including courses in the use of innovative assessment
and cleanup technologies; and
• Supporting career placement of students for 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 Development Demonstration Pilot Bernalillo County, New Mexico
May 1999 EPA 500-F-99-097
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