EPA Announces $500,000 to Nevada’s Nye Communities Coalition for Job Training
Nevada – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing that the Nye Communities Coalition has been selected to receive a $500,000 grant to help recruit, train, and place workers in community revitalization and cleanup projects at contaminated sites (brownfields) in Nevada. The grant is under the EPA’s Brownfields Job Training Program and is funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
With this investment the Nye Communities Coalition will target students within Nye, Lincoln, and Esmeralda Counties, specifically unemployed and underemployed residents, young adults, and groups like veterans and Drug Court graduates. Those individuals selected will undergo a program including 173 hours of instructional training for certifications for asbestos abatement, first aid, disaster site work, lead paint removal, and other life skills. Students who complete the training will earn up to three state and eight federal certifications. The Nye Communities Coalition plans to train 100 students and place at least 80 in environmental jobs.
“Through these EPA Brownfields job training grants, we are advancing skills building and creating job opportunities, while helping provide the skilled workforce needed to move cleanups forward,” said EPA Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. “In Nevada, this funding will support communities’ efforts to move contaminated sites to productive reuse.”
“Over the next few years, underemployed and unemployed residents of Nye, Esmeralda, and Lincoln Counties will have the opportunity to access training that will transform their lives, offering lifelong career prospects, while enhancing community safety,” said Stacy Smith, CEO Nye Communities Coalition. “These rural and frontier Nevada counties face high poverty and low education rates, and this training will not only increase wages for community members but also provide employers with a pool of highly skilled individuals to meet labor market demands.”
“I’m glad the Nye Communities Coalition has received this well-deserved grant,” said Senator Catherine Cortez Masto. “This funding will help train Nevadans for good-paying jobs across Nye, Lincoln, and Esmeralda Counties. I look forward to continuing to work with my federal, state, and local partners to support new workforce opportunities for our rural communities.”
“I’ve been working to ensure Nevadans have access to the training they need to succeed in good-paying jobs like these,” said Senator Jacky Rosen. “This federal funding will help train students in Nye, Lincoln, and Esmeralda Counties with critical skills necessary for essential environmental jobs that will help clean up and prevent pollution at sites across our state.”
Key partners of Nye Communities Coalition in this effort will include BEC Environmental, Inc., C&S Waste Solutions, Lincoln County, the Nevada Outreach Training Organization, Nye County, the Nye County School District, and the Spring Mountain Motor Resort and Country Club.
EPA’s Brownfields Job Training Program provides funding to organizations that are working to create a skilled workforce in communities where assessment, cleanup, and preparation of brownfield sites for reuse activities are taking place. Individuals completing a job training program funded by EPA often overcome a variety of barriers to employment. Many are from historically underserved neighborhoods or reside in the areas that are affected by environmental justice issues. All FY25 Brownfields Job Training Program applications selected across the nation have proposed to work in areas that include disadvantaged communities as defined by the Climate & Economic Justice Screening Tool, delivering on President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative to deliver 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.
Individuals typically graduate from the program with a variety of certifications that improve their marketability and help ensure that employment opportunities are not just temporary contractual work, but long-term environmental careers. This includes certifications in:
- Lead and asbestos abatement;
- Hazardous waste operations and emergency response;
- Mold remediation;
- Environmental sampling and analysis; and
- Other environmental health and safety training.
For more information on the selected Brownfields Job Training Grant recipients, including past grant recipients, please visit EPA’s Grant Factsheet Tool.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests more than $1.5 billion through EPA’s Brownfields Program. Since 1998, EPA has awarded 430 grants totaling more than $113 million through Brownfield Job Training Programs. With these grants, more than 23,400 individuals have completed training and over 17,400 individuals have been placed in careers related to land remediation and environmental health and safety. Over the last five years, the average starting wage for these individuals is approximately $23 per hour.
For more information on this and other types of Brownfields Grants, please visit EPA’s Types of Funding webpage.
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