i O \ Brownfields 2011 Job Training Grant Fact Sheet
/ Zender Environmental Health and Research Group, Anchorage,
AK
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
Zender Environmental Health and Research Group's job
training program will serve up to 40 of the 197 remote
Job Training Grant
$300,000
EPA has selected Zender Environmental Health
and Research Group for an environmental
workforce development and job training grant.
Zender plans to train a minimum of 34 students,
place all graduates in environmental jobs, and
track graduates for 18 months. The training
program will consist of two four-week training
cycles. Courses will include 40-hour
HAZWOPER, leaking underground storage tank
awareness, alternative treatment technology, rural
Alaska solid and hazardous waste management,
and lead renovation, repair, and painting. Primary
trainers will be from Zender. Students will be
recruited from residents of distressed
communities, including unemployed residents, and
rural veterans. Zender Environmental Health and
Research Group will work with several villages
and regional tribal consortia to place graduates in
environmental j obs.
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 10 Brownfields Team
(206)553-7299
EPA Region 10 Brownfields Web site
(http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/CL
EANUP.NSF/sites/bf)
Grant Recipient: Zender Environmental Health
and Research Group,AK
9072772111
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
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and rural communities in Alaska (combined population
70,473) with populations that are greater than 30 percent
Alaska Native. These remote minority communities face
significant environmental and economic disadvantages.
They are all off the state road system and can be reached
only by plane or chartered boat. The unemployment rate
in some of these villages can be as high as 19 percent, and
approximately 22 percent of residents live in poverty. The
state has approximately 6,287 known contaminated sites,
with much of the contamination resulting from inadvertent
spills, careless chemical handling, and unregulated waste
disposal during the last century's development. The
large-scale military buildup beginning in World War II
contributed to the state's contamination legacy, and
thousands of remote mining sites likely contain high
concentrations of heavy metals and processing chemicals.
The targeted communities are the primary local
employers and partners in this program. They have
cleanups planned and will contact the program about job
opportunities. Surveys of regional tribal consortia and
individual communities indicate a high demand for
skilled environmental professionals with the certifications
of the training program.
negotiated. Therefore, activities described in this
fact sheet are subject to change.
United States	c
Environmental	anri Fmpflpn™	EPA 560-F-11-061
j. j.- a	ancl Emergency	. .
Protection Agency	Response (5105T)	JulV2011
Washington, DC 20450	^ v '

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