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L.A. Conservation Corps receives EPA grant for unemployed workers to receive environmental job training

Release Date: 05/13/2014
Contact Information: Nahal Mogharabi, [email protected], 213-244-1815

LOS ANGELES – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announces it has selected the Los Angeles Conservation Corps (LACC) in Los Angeles, Calif. to receive a $200,000 Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training (EWDJT) grant to provide job training and skills to unemployed and economically-disadvantaged residents of South Los Angeles. In total, 18 grantees were selected nationally to receive approximately $3.6 million in funding.

“EPA is excited to partner with the Los Angeles Conservation Corps to provide community members the skills they need to clean up contaminated sites in Los Angeles,” said Jared Blumenfeld, Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “These skills will support local involvement in environmental work for years to come.”

Under the grant, LACC intends to train 60 students, place 48 graduates in environmental jobs, and track graduates for one year. LACC’s training program includes 161 hours of core instruction, which includes a 40-hour health and safety training, lead and asbestos abatement, 10-hour CAL OSHA site worker safety, and additional instruction on stormwater management, health and safety, and basic building science.

EWDJT grants fund training programs in local nonprofit organizations, community colleges, cities, states, tribes, and counties that provide unemployed and under-employed, including veterans, minority, and predominately low income individuals with the comprehensive skills and certifications needed to enter full-time careers in the environmental field. The funding also supports job placement and recruitment activities. These green jobs give hope to individuals to overcome significant barriers to employment and help protect public health and the environment by providing a skilled job force to clean up contamination and build more sustainable futures for local communities.

Graduates of the program develop a comprehensive set of skills to secure full-time, sustainable employment in many areas of the environmental field, and the program has resulted in an excellent cumulative job placement rate. Nationally, the average an hourly starting wage is $14.00. Program graduates obtain employment within their own communities, areas often historically affected by blight, economic disinvestment, and sites contaminated with solid and hazardous wastes. Rather than filling local environmental jobs with professionals outside of these communities, these grants help provide an opportunity for local residents to secure careers that make a visible impact cleaning up their neighborhoods, creating a locally skilled workforce. Graduates obtain employment in fields such as: recycling, brownfields assessment and cleanup, wastewater treatment, stormwater management, emergency response, oil spill cleanup, solar installation, and Superfund site remediation.

The additional 17 grantees are:

• Hunters Point Family, San Francisco, Calif.
• Cypress Mandela Training Center, Oakland, Calif.
• City of Durham, N.C.
• Memphis Bioworks, Tenn.
• City of Milwaukee, Wis.
• Los Angeles Conservation Corps, Calif.
• St. Nicks Alliance; Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Civic Works; Baltimore, Md.
• Community Development Corporation of Tampa, Fla.
• Limitless Vistas; New Orleans, La.
• City of Camden, Ark.
• Energy Coordinating Agency; Philadelphia, Penn.
• Lewis and Clark County, Mont.
• Alaska Forum
• Northstar Center for Human Development; Hartford, Conn.
• City of Detroit, Mich.
• The Workplace, Inc.; Bridgeport, Conn.
• Mo-Kan Regional Council; St. Joseph, Mo.

Since the EWDJT program’s inception in 1998, the EPA has funded 239 job training grants totaling more than $50 million. More than 12,800 individuals have completed training, and of those, more than 9,100 have secured employment in the environmental field.

More information on Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training grants: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/pilot_grants.htm

More information on EPA’s Brownfields program https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/

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