Brownfields 2011 Job Training Grant Fact Sheet
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Camden,
NJ
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
$300,000
EPA has selected the New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection for an environmental
workforce development and job training grant. The
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
plans to train 72 students, place all graduates in local
jobs, and track graduates for one year. The core
training program will consist of three 176-hour
cycles, with an additional 18 to 24 hours of
supplemental course work. Courses will include
40-hour HAZWOPER, underground storage tank
leak awareness, innovative treatment awareness,
solar panel installation, mold and mildew
remediation, and solid waste management and
cleanup awareness. Primary trainers will be from
Camden County College. Students will be recruited
from low-income, underemployed, and at-risk
residents of Camden. Local institutions that include
the Camden Redevelopment Agency and Salvation
Army have committed to require the hiring of local
certified environmental professionals in all their
contracts requiring environmental work. The New
Jersey Department of Environmental Protection will
work with these organizations and its community
employer partners to place graduates in
environmental jobs.
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 2 Brownfields Team
(212) 637-3260
EPA Region 2 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/region2/brownfields)
Grant Recipient: New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection
6097774212
The information presented in this fact sheet comes
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 560-F-11-044
Jul 11
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The New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection's job training program will serve the City of
Camden (population 78,788), the most distressed city in
New Jersey. Camden is a federally designated Renewal
Community and Empowerment Zone. After a long
period of economic disinvestment, it has become a city
with high poverty rates and many environmental issues,
including a concentration of brownfields and
pollution-emitting facilities. Camden's population has
decreased significantly from 124,555 in 1950. Its
largest employers have either left the city or relocated
all their manufacturing jobs. Approximately 87.9
percent of residents are African-American or Hispanic.
The city contains several hundred known contaminated
sites, including dumps, demolition yards, and
abandoned brownfields. In the Waterfront South
neighborhood alone, there are 26 contaminated sites,
two Superfund sites, and an incinerator. Many land
reclamation projects are being designed and
implemented in Camden, including many environmental
restoration projects that require environmental
professionals. Local institutions and universities also
have plans to expand, indicating an existing demand for
local environmental technicians with the skills of
program graduates.
from the grant proposal; EPA cannot attest to the
accuracy of this information. The cooperative
agreement for the grant has not yet been negotiated.
Therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are
subject to change.
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 560-F-11-044
Jul 11
------- |