ENVIRONMENTAL WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
         AND JOB TRAINING SUCCESS STORY
         Civic Works' Baltimore Center for Green Careers
                                                 Baltimore,  Maryland
HIGHLIGHTS
Within the program's six week
curriculum, students receive a
minimum of six certifications.

BCGC has trained over 80 people,
yielding a 90 percent graduation
rate and 90 percent employment
rate upon graduating.

Graduates make an average of
$12.00 to $16.00 per hour.
Baltimore, Maryland's industrial past left city areas in desolate disarray
in the 1970s. Since then, the city, with the help of local groups, has
worked to rejuvenate and rebuild neglected parts of the metropolitan
area. The Civic Works Service Corps, a non-profit and an AmeriCorps
program, is one of Baltimore's strongest promoters of community works.
Through the help of grants from the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), Civic Works is able to provide urban service programs, such as
environmental job training, to create new opportunities for residents
who have typically had limited employment options.
Civic Works was awarded their first Brownfields Job Training Grant
from EPA in 2001. The success of the grant led Civic Works to expand,
including an initiative to provide additional occupational skills training
for local residents looking to develop environmental careers. The
Baltimore Center for Green Careers (BCGC), a division of Civic Works,
opened in 2010 using a $200,000 EPA Brownfields Job Training Grant
awarded to Civic Works. The BCGC was developed mainly in response
to the high unemployment rates and other  economic and social barriers
affecting residents
who may have
been incarcerated
or did not graduate
high school. The
BCGC's mission is
to "create business
and employment
development
initiatives that
contribute to
environmental
sustainability and
are open to all

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 "I [now] have the opportunity to live my life with
 a wage while still having fun... [the program] was
 like having a big cheering section where they are
 saying, 'you can do this, the past doesn't matter'."

                              —BCGC Graduate
                              Ketorus Gooding
 Baltimore job seekers." John Mello, Projects
 Director at BCGC, explains that the idea for the
 center evolved because Civic Works "wanted
 to achieve social justice goals while achieving
 environmental goals."
 Since its launch, the BCGC has trained over
 80 people, yielding a 90 percent graduation
 rate and 90 percent employment rate upon
 graduating. BCGC graduates have gone on to
 work on regional environmental cleanup projects
 ranging from asbestos abatement to hazardous
 waste removal and weatherization of buildings
 and homes.
 Within the program's six week curriculum,
 students receive a minimum of six certifications
 including but not limited to: OSHA Hazardous
 Waste Site Worker (HAZWOPER); Asbestos
 Abatement Supervisor; Lead Abatement
 Worker; and Confined Space Operations.
 After completing training and earning their
 certifications, graduates are then placed with
 regional or local revitalization companies in the
 greater Baltimore area and surrounding tri-state
 area. Graduates make an average of $12.00 to
 $16.00 per hour.
          The program's success is not only due to
          the education it provides but also by the
          relationships that the program has built with
          local employers—a dynamic network where
          companies have come to anticipate and
          request program graduates for employment.
          BCGC graduate Marvin Carver still works with
          the Baltimore company that hired him initially;
          the company went on to hire eight additional
          program graduates because of his personal
          recommendations. As Marvin explains, the
          program gave him the chance to "enjoy work
          and save the planet" at the same time.
          Another BCGC graduate, Ketorus Gooding, was
          hired for weatherization of commercial buildings
          the day after graduation by a local construction
          company. The company went on to sponsor
          Ketorus for further training  and certifications.
          According to Ketorus, "I [now] have the
          opportunity to live my life with a wage while still
          having fun... [the program] was like having a big
          cheering section where they are saying, 'you
          can do this, the past doesn't matter'."
Brownfields Success Story
Baltimore Center for Green Careers
Baltimore, Maryland
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 560-Q-12-001
May2012
www. epa.gov/brownfields/

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