Brownfields 2011 Job
Civic Works, Baltimore, MD
Training Grant Fact Sheet
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
Civic Works'job training program will target residents of
Baltimore, MD. Baltimore, a Brownfields Showcase
Job Training Grant
$300,000
EPA has selected Civic Works for an
environmental workforce development and job
training grant. Civic Works plans to train 144
students, place 122 graduates in environmental
jobs, and track graduates for one year. The
training program will consist of eight five-week,
202-hour training cycles. Courses will include
40-hour HAZWOPER, lead abatement, asbestos
abatement supervisor, environmental site
assessment, and confined space entry. Primary
trainers will be accredited environmental health
and safety professionals from Civic Works, which
has been training students since 2003. Students
will be recruited from among underemployed and
unemployed individuals, military veterans, and
low-income and underserved residents. Civic
Works will work with the City of Baltimore and
local environmental employers who have hired
previous job training 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 3 Brownfields Team
(215)814-3129
EPA Region 3 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/bf -lr)
Grant Recipient: Civic Works, Baltimore
4109296124
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
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Community, has lost more than half its manufacturing	fact sheet are subject to change.
jobs in the last 20 years. The city's poverty rate is 22.9
percent, and the unemployment rate is 10.4 percent.
Approximately 63 percent of residents are
African-American. The city has environmental challenges
that include degraded streams, old sewage infrastructure
that pollutes both groundwater and the Chesapeake Bay,
and improperly managed stormwater runoff. The extreme
decline of the manufacturing sector in Baltimore has
resulted in a high concentration of brownfields, many of
which are on the industrial waterfront. There are at least
1,000 brownfields that total 2,500 acres. Many
brownfields projects must incorporate measures to protect
and restore the Chesapeake Bay. The state is working to
ensure than 100,000 green jobs are created within
Maryland by 2015. There is a steady employer demand in
Baltimore for environmental technicians, especially in
lead and asbestos abatement, residential energy retrofit
installation and assessment, and environmental site
assessment, inspection, and sampling. Civic Works
anticipates that there will be at least 130 openings for
environmental technicians each year that will require the
certifications of program graduates. It has established
relationships with home performance and weatherization
contractors who are interested in hiring program
graduates, indicating that graduates will be hired locally.
United States	c
Environmental	anri Fmpflpn™	EPA 560-F-11-045
j. j.- a	ancl Emergency	. .
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Washington, DC 20450	^ v '

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