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Brownfields 2007
Grant Fact Sheet
Milwaukee
Community Service
Corps, Wl
EPA Brownfields Program
EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, commu-
nities, and other stakeholders in economic development
to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up,
and sustainably reuse brownfields. Abrownfield site is
real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse
of which may be complicated by the presence or
potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant,
or contaminant. On January 11, 2002, President George
W. Bush signed into law the Small Business Liability
Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act. Under the
Brownfields Law, EPA provides financial assistance to
eligible applicants through four competitive grant
programs: assessment grants, revolving loan fund
grants, cleanup grants, and job training grants. The
brownfields job training grants provide residents of
communities impacted by brownfields with the skills
and training needed to effectively gain employment in
assessment and cleanup activities associated with
brownfield redevelopment and environmental
remediation. Additionally, funding support is provided to
state and tribal response programs through a separate
mechanism.
Community Description
The Milwaukee Community Service Corps (MCSC)
was selected to receive a job training grant. Located
on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, the City
of Milwaukee has historically been a major Midwest-
Job Training Grant
$200,000
EPA has selected the Milwaukee Community
Service Corps for a job training grant. MCSC
plans to train 64 individuals, place at least 56 in
environmental jobs, and track graduates for as
long as the organization is in existence. The 300-
hour program will include OS HA health and
safety training for hazardous waste workers,
HAZWOPER, lead and asbestos abatement,
confined space entry certification, and
coursework in sampling and monitoring applica-
tions. Students will be recruited from among
disadvantaged residents of metropolitan Milwau-
kee neighborhoods impacted by brownfields, with
a primary focus on residents living within
Milwaukee's Renewal Community. Individuals
will be recruited through referrals from commu-
nity-based organizations, probation and parole
officers, and welfare-to-work caseworkers, with
whom MCSC has built collaborative relationships.
MCSC placement and retention staff will place
graduates in environmental jobs and track their
progress after graduation.
Contacts
For further information, including specific grant
contacts, additional grant information, brownfields
news and events, and publications and links, visit
the EPA Brownfields web site at: www.epa.gov/
brownfields.
EPA Region 5 Brownfields Team
312-886-4747
http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields/
Grant Recipient: Milwaukee Community Service
Corps, WI
414-372-9040
The cooperative agreement for this grant has not
yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described
in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5105T)
EPA 560-F-06-258
November 2006
www.epa.gov/brownfields
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ern industrial center. However, like many "Rust Belt"
cities, Milwaukee's manufacturing sector began to
decline in the late 1960s. Today, abandoned factories
and warehouses are common sites in the city's poorest
neighborhoods. For this grant, MCSC will target
residents of Milwaukee's Renewal Community (popu-
lation 487,000), an economically distressed, predomi-
nately African-American community with a 25 percent
unemployment rate and 53 percent poverty rate. The
Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that approxi-
mately 59 percent of working-age African-American
males in the target area are jobless, the highest rate
found in any U.S. city. Existing and planned
brownfields redevelopment projects abound in the
Renewal Community and will generate significant
demand for entry-level and advanced environmental
workers. It is conservatively estimated that brownfields
cleanup and economic development activities in the
Renewal Community will create more than 3,500 new
jobs within the next seven years.
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