I w : | Brownfields 2011 Job Training Grant Fact Sheet
The Enterprise Center, Inc., Chattanooga, TN
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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 Enterprise Center's job training program will target
residents of Chattanooga, TN (population 155,554), a
Job Training Grant
$300,000
EPA has selected the The Enterprise Center, Inc.,
for an environmental workforce development and
job training grant. The Enterprise Center plans to
train 48 students, place 36 graduates in
environmental jobs, and track graduates for one
year. The training program will consist of four
360-hour training cycles and will include 40-hour
HAZWOPER, underground storage tank leak
prevention awareness, solid waste management,
innovative and alternative treatment technologies
awareness, and accredited environmental training.
There also will be a 216-hour commercial driver's
license course. Primary trainers will be the
technical training staff at Chattanooga State
Community College. Students will be recruited
from Chattanooga's unemployed and
underemployed residents, with a focus on
residents living in the brownfields redevelopment
corridor, veterans, and disconnected youth. The
Enterprise Center will work with statewide
agencies and several local environmental firms
that will serve on the program's advisory
committee 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 4 Brownfields Team
(404) 562-8792
EPA Region 4 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/region4/was te/bf)
Grant Recipient: The Enterprise Center, Inc.,TN
4234253776
The information presented in this fact sheet comes
from the grant proposal; EPA cannot attest to the
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designated Renewal Community. Chattanooga's historic
center of heavy manufacturing is in the city's urban core,
which has experienced numerous plant closings and is a
designated brownfields redevelopment corridor. There are
an estimated 1,500 potential brownfields in the city, most
of which are in the brownfields redevelopment corridor.
Sites include abandoned printing companies, coal
carbonization plants, and chemical companies. The area's
unemployment rate is 13.8 percent, and 35 percent of
households live below the poverty level. Approximately
62 percent of residents are minorities. According to the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the need for
environmental technicians in the state will grow by 30
percent through 2014 and the environmental industry will
grow by 20 percent. Surveys of local environmental
employers found an increased demand for environmental
technicians with the skills of program graduates. The job
training program is being developed with input from local
environmental firms, indicating that graduates will be
hired locally.
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	c
Environmental	anri Fmpflpn™	EPA 560-F-11-050
j. j.- a	ancl Emergency	. .
Protection Agency	Response (5105T)	JulV2011
Washington, DC 20450	^ v '

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