Brownfields 2011 Job Training Grant Fact Sheet
Saint Paul Port Authority, MN
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 Saint Paul Port Authority for
an environmental workforce development and job
training grant. The Saint Paul Port Authority plans to
train 67 students, place at least 47 graduates in
environmental jobs, and track graduates for one
year. The training program will consist of six
three-week core training cycles that will include
courses on 40-hour HAZWOPER, energy
management, and reducing and eliminating
environmental releases and emissions. Three
additional training tracks with four cycles each will
be held for asbestos-ready environmental field
technicians, hazardous waste excavation workers,
and asbestos-ready excavation workers. The primary
trainer will be Employer Solutions, Inc., the Port
Authority's workforce development arm. Students
will be recruited from veterans, dislocated workers,
and dislocated auto workers. The Saint Paul Port
Authority will work with its employer partners, who
all have pledged to interview program graduates, 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 5 Brownfields Team
(312)886-7576
EPA Region 5 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields)
Grant Recipient: Saint Paul Port Authority,MN
6519174204
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-11-052
Jul 11
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me Saint faul fort Authority's job training program
will target three Brownfield Corridor Project Areas in
Saint Paul (population 281,244): the Phalen, Great
Northern, and Rice Street Corridors. The target areas
formerly housed large industrial and commercial job
centers, but job losses due to the closing and
downsizing of major manufacturers altered the
economic and cultural landscape. The corridors became
blighted, and property values in adjacent neighborhoods
declined. In the target areas, 26 percent of residents live
below the poverty level, and the unemployment rate is
11.7 percent. There is great ethnic and cultural diversity
in the target neighborhoods, where 52 percent of
residents are minorities, including African-American,
Asian, and Latino residents. Within Saint Paul,
brownfields range in size from less than an acre to
dozens of acres, and are concentrated along
transportation corridors like the three Saint Paul target
areas. State labor market information indicates that the
demand for environmental technicians, hazardous
materials removal workers, and construction laborers
will grow over the next five years. Employer partner
surveys revealed demand for workers with
HAZWOPER and asbestos training, indicating that
environmental workers with the skills of program
graduates will be immediately employable.
United States Q ., . ,A/__t,.
E-ironmental andEmXency EPA
Protection Agency ResDonse(51oVn
Washington, DC 20450 Kesponse (bl Ob I)
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