Brownfields 2011 Job Training Grant Fact Sheet
Metropolitan Energy Center, Kansas City and Independence,
MO
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 Metropolitan Energy Center
for an environmental workforce development and
job training grant. The Metropolitan Energy Center
plans to train 52 students, place 40 graduates, and
track graduates for one year. The training program
will consist of two 8 3-hour training cycles of core
and supplemental training courses, and then either a
174-hour environmental remediation track or a
190-hour environmental assessor/inspector track.
Core courses will include 40-hour HAZWOPER
underground storage leak prevention awareness,
solid waste management, innovative/alternative
treatment technologies, and mold awareness. The
primary trainer will be Era Environmental. Students
will be recruited from unemployed and
underemployed residents who live in or near
brownfield communities in the urban core of Kansas
City and western Independence. The Metropolitan
Energy Center will work with its partners,
environmental companies, local community-based
organizations, and government agencies 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 7 Brownfields Team
(800) 223-0425
EPA Region 7 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/region7/cleanup/brown fields)
Grant Recipient: Metropolitan Energy Center,MO
8162254573
The information presented in this fact sheet comes
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
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 560-F-11-056
Jul 11
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The Metropolitan Energy Center will target its job I subject to change
training activities in Kansas City and Independence,
Missouri (combined population 593,330). In western
Independence and Kansas City's urban core, from 13 to
25 percent of residents live below the poverty level.
Approximately a third of Kansas City residents are
minorities, and the unemployment rate in one area is
58.4 percent. In Independence, the steel mills and oil
refinery that employed many residents have closed, and
the unemployment rate is 10.3 percent. The urban cores
of both cities are dotted with blighted structures. There
are 2,181 potential brownfields in Kansas City, and 180
potential brownfields in a 2.25-square-mile area in
Independence. A labor market assessment shows
growth of up to 32 percent in jobs for hazardous
materials workers, environmental compliance
inspectors, refuse and recycling material handlers, and
other skilled environmental technicians. Environmental
employer surveys found that 60 percent of respondents
will be hiring in the next two years, indicating demand
for workers with the skills of program graduates.
United States __,.
EPA
Protection Agency ResDonse(51oVn JuM1
Washington, DC 20450 Kesponse (bl Ob I )
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