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
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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 '

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