Brownfields 2009 Assessment Grant
               Fact Sheet
               Worcester,  MA
                                                         RECOUERY.GOV
EPA Brownfields Program

EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states.
communities, and other stakeholders to work together to
prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse
brownfields. A brownfield 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
February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed
into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The Recovery Act is an unprecedented effort to
jumpstart our economy, and create or save millions of
jobs. This law provided stimulus funds to the
Brownfields Program to award grants to evaluate and
clean up former industrial and commercial sites. Under
this law, EPA will provide financial assistance to
eligible applicants through four competitive grant
programs: assessment grants, revolving loan fund
grants, cleanup grants, and job training grants.

Community Description

The City of Worcester was selected to receive a
brownfields assessment grant. Worcester (population
173,966) is home to many manufacturing firsts,
including the typewriter, the space suit, barbed wire,
and liquid rocket fuel. The largest segments of the city's
manufacturing history revolved around textiles and
machinery. As the industrial era ended, factories and
mills closed, leaving behind unemployed residents,
vacant and underused buildings, and blighted
neighborhoods. The city intends to target assessments
in environmental justice areas, including low-income
neighborhoods with high percentages of minority
residents, children, and other sensitive populations.
State data indicate that more than 50 percent of the
schools in Worcester are within environmental justice
areas. Eighteen percent of city residents live below the
poverty level, and the median household income is
substantially lower than the state median. Assessment
of brownfields will provide the city with information to
help determine appropriate cleanup measures and is
expected to help spur interest in redevelopment.
                   Assessment Grant
                   $200,000 for petroleum (Recovery Act
                   Funding)
                   EPA has selected the City of Worcester for a
                   brownfields assessment grant. Community-wide
                   petroleum grant funds will be used to inventory sites.
                   and conduct a minimum of five Phase I and Phase II
                   environmental site assessments. Grant funds also
                   will be used to conduct cleanup planning and
                   support community outreach activities.

                   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: City of Worcester,MA
                   (508) 799-1400 ext 238

                   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
                   subject to change.
  United States
  Environmental
  Protection Agency
  Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 560-F-09-052
        May 09

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