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Brownfields 2001 Job Training Pilot Fact Sheet

The Office of Applied Innovations, Riverdale, IL

EPA Brownfields Initiative

EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states,
communities, and other stakeholders to work together to
prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse
brownfields. A brownfield site is real property, the
expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be
complicated by the presence or potential presence of a
hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. On
January 11, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into
law the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields
Revitalization Act. Under the Brownfields Law, EPA
provides financial assistance to eligible applicants
through four competitive grant programs: assessment
grants, revolving loan fund grants, cleanup grants, and
job training grants. Additionally, funding support is
provided to state and tribal response programs through a
separate mechanism.

Background

EPA has selected the Office of Applied Innovations,
Chicago, for a Brownfields Job Training and
Development Demonstration Pilot. The Office of
Applied Innovations' assessment pilot partner is the
Village of Riverdale. Riverdale (population 14,000) is
located just south of Chicago. More than three-quarters
of Riverdale residents are minorities, primarily African
Americans. The unemployment rate among Village
residents is 20%.

The Job Training Pilot will focus on the Village of
Riverdale, which is in the process of investigating and
prioritizing more than 200 brownfields sites. Brownfields
redevelopment and economic renewal activities are
expected to create job opportunities in Riverdale and
surrounding communities. The potential for
redevelopment is strong due in large part to an excellent
existing transportation infrastructure. Local
environmental contractors have expressed interest in
hiring local residents trained as environmental
technicians to participate in new redevelopment
opportunities.

Pilot Snapshot

Date of Announcement: 12/01/2000
Amount: $200,000

Profile: The Pilot will train 90 students as
environmental technicians. Students will be recruited
from the Village of Riverdale and surrounding
communities, which are home to hundreds of
brownfields and which are taking advantage of the
excellent transportation infrastructure to stimulate
brownfields redevelopment activities.

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 5 Brownfields Team
(312)886-7576

EPA Region 5 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields)

Grant Recipient: OAI, Inc., Chicago, IL
(312)362-6022

Objectives

The Office of Applied Innovations plans to train 90
students, achieve a 70% placement rate, and support
career placement of graduates for one year after the
training is completed. Students will be recruited from
among residents of Riverdale and surrounding
communities. The 480-hour Pilot training program will
consist of HAZWOPER training, underground storage
tank removal, lead and asbestos abatement, confined
space entry, and training in the use of innovative
assessment technologies, such as indirect heat
volatilization/rotary kiln treatment, steam injection
system, and thermal desorption.

The training efforts of the Office of Applied Innovations
will be supported by organizations such as the Village
of Riverdale, WPI-Virginia Polytechnic Institute, the

United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450

Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)

EPA 500-F-00-275
Dec 00

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Riverdale Community Resource Center, African
American Contractors Association, Heritage
Community Bank, and two private environmental
consulting companies. A project advisory council will
meet quarterly to provide technical assistance and
evaluate all aspects of the program. A career week will
be conducted at the end of the training program to
enhance placement opportunities.

Activities

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

•	Conducting outreach to recruit residents of
Riverdale and surrounding communities;

•	Conducting training for entry-level positions as
brownfields technicians, including courses in the
use of innovative assessment and cleanup
technologies; and

•	Supporting career placement of students for one
year after the job training is completed.

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 fact sheet are subject to change.

United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450

and Emergency
Response (5105T)

Solid Waste

EPA 500-F-00-275
Dec 00

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