Brownfields 2011 Job Training Grant Fact Sheet
Merrimack Valley Workforce Investment Board, Lawrence,
Haverhill, and Methuen, MA
EPA Brownfields Program
In 2010, the Office of Brownfields and Land
Revitalization (OBLR) led an effort to more closely
collaborate on workforce development and job training
with other programs within EPA's Office of Solid
Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER), including
the Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery
(ORCR), Office of Superfund Remediation and
Technology Innovation (OSRTI), Office of
Underground Storage Tanks (OUST), Federal Facilities
Restoration and Reuse Office (FFRRO), Center for
Program Analysis (CPA), Innovation, Partnerships, and
Communication Office (IPCO), and the Office of
Emergency Management (OEM) to develop a job
training cooperative agreement opportunity that
includes expanded training in other environmental
media outside the traditional scope of just brownfields.
As a result of these discussions, the "Environmental
Workforce Development and Job Training Grants
Program," formerly known as the "Brownfields Job
Training Grants Program," was formed and now
provides grantees the ability to deliver additional
hazardous and solid waste training. By expanding the
program, communities are provided the flexibility to
deliver new types of environmental training based on
local labor market demands.
Environmental Workforce Development and Job
Training grant funds are provided to nonprofit
organizations and other eligible entities to recruit, train,
and place predominantly low-income and minority,
unemployed and under-employed residents from solid
and hazardous waste-impacted communities. Residents
learn the skills needed to secure full-time, sustainable
employment in the environmental field, including a
focus on assessment and cleanup activities. These
grants help to create green jobs that reduce
environmental contamination and promote
sustainability in communities throughout the nation.
EPA awarded its first Brownfields Job Training Grants
in 1998. To date, more than 5,000 people have obtained
environmental employment in the environmental field
with an average starting hourly wage of $14.65.
Community Description
Job Training Grant
$299,998
EPA has selected the Merrimack Valley Workforce
Investment Board for an environmental workforce
development and job training grant. The Merrimack
Valley Workforce Investment Board plans to train
39 students, place 28 graduates in environmental
jobs, and track graduates for one year. The training
program will consist of three 300-hour training
cycles. Courses will include 40-hour HAZWOPER
underground storage tank leak prevention
awareness, solid waste management and cleanup,
innovative and alternative treatment technologies,
and groundwater, soil, and water testing. Primary
trainers will be from Northern Essex Community
College, Lawrence Training School, Inc., Motive
Solutions, Inc., and industry experts. Students will
be recruited from unemployed and underemployed
residents of Lawrence, Haverhill, and Methuen, with
a concentration on residents of Lawrence. The
Workforce Investment Board has met with local
environmental employers who have expressed their
intention to interview program graduates about job
placement and also have committed to participate on
an employers' advisory board.
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
(http://www.epa.gov/brownfields).
EPA Region 1 Brownfields Team
(617)918-1424
EPA Region 1 Brownfields Web site
(http: //www. epa.gov/region 1 /brownfields)
Grant Recipient: Merrimack Valley Workforce
Investment Board,MA
9786827099 ext 7082
The information presented in this fact sheet comes
from the grant proposal; EPA cannot attest to the
accuracy of this information. The cooperative
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 560-F-11-041
Jul 11
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The Merrimack Valley Workforce Investment Board
will target its job training activities in Lawrence,
Haverhill, and Methuen (combined population 176,521)
in northeastern Massachusetts. These communities have
significant environmental issues and share Merrimack
River pollution issues. Lawrence, a federally designated
Renewal Community, is burdened with a long history of
contamination from former textiles, paper, and shoe
production. Its unemployment rate is 18.5 percent.
Haverhill is a former industrial center that was once
home to saw and grist mills, tanneries, boatyards, and
shoe manufacturing plants. Methuen's Arlington
neighborhood, a target area, has an unemployment rate
of 17.9 percent. Approximately 33 percent of residents
live at or below the poverty level. Methuen and
Haverhill have documented issues with their water
supplies, including possible PCB contamination. A
regional labor market assessment shows growth in the
fields of deconstruction, sustainable landscaping, and
recycling/solid waste collectors and sorters. Local
environmental employers reported in surveys that they
will be hiring or expanding in the near future,
confirming demand for trained environmental
technicians with the skills of program graduates. Hiring
incentives for local workers will be extended to all
environmental cleanup projects on city property.
agreement for the grant has not yet been negotiated.
Therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are
subject to change.
United States
Environmental and Emergency EPA 560-F-11-041
Protection Agency ResDonse(51oVn JuM1
Washington, DC 20450 Kesponse (bl Ob I)
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