I jBt; | Brownfields 2011 Job Training Grant Fact Sheet Tacoma, WA 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 The City of Tacoma (population 199,638), which is located in western Washington on Commencement Bay, Job Training Grant $300,000 EPA has selected the City of Tacoma for an environmental workforce development and job training grant. Tacoma plans to train 90 students, place 65 graduates, and track graduates for one year. The training program will consist of five sessions of a 110-hour core curriculum, followed by three supplemental tracks: a 54-hour life-cycle assessment track, a wastewater treatment apprenticeship with 5,000 on-the-job and classroom hours, and a 40-hour green site remediation track. The core curriculum will include 40-hour HAZWOPER, forklift certification, and underground storage tanks/leaking underground storage tanks awareness. Primary trainers will be from Clover Park Technical College. Students will be recruited from a pool of low-income, unemployed residents of the target areas. Tacoma will work with environmental employers in Pierce County and the local workforce investment board 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 10 Brownfields Team (206)553-7299 EPA Region 10 Brownfields Web site (http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/CL EANUP.NSF/sites/bf) Grant Recipient: City of Tacoma,WA (253) 594-7933 The information presented in this fact sheet comes from the grant proposal; EPA cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. The cooperative United States c Environmental anri Fmpflpn™ EPA 560-F-11-060 nil- a ancl Emergency . . Protection Agency Response (5105T) JulV2011 Washington, DC 20450 ^ v ' ------- witnessed a growth in population and an increase in industrial development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, due partly to a flourishing maritime industry. In the late 1970s, much of the waterfront development closed or relocated, leaving many vacant sites and a legacy of soil and sediment contamination. Certain areas of Commencement Bay are part of a Superfund site, and there are at least 30 brownfields in the South Tacoma Way Industrial Area, a designated Renewal Community. The target areas for this grant are census tracts in Pierce County with five or more former gas stations sites, and where there are a disproportionate number of brownfield sites. The poverty rate in these areas is 15.9 percent, and 27.8 percent of residents are minorities. The region had the highest increase in foreclosures in the country in 2010. Employer surveys and a labor market assessment identified demand for green occupations in Pierce County. The largest green job needs are in the fields of construction, public administration, and waste management. The program's certifications correspond to the needs identified by employers, indicating demand for workers with program graduates' skills. agreement for the grant has not yet been negotiated. Therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change. United States c Environmental anri Fmpflpn™ EPA 560-F-11-060 j. j.- a ancl Emergency . . Protection Agency Response (5105T) JulV2011 Washington, DC 20450 ^ v ' ------- |