$499,161.00
EPA has selected the City of Worcester for a Brownfields Job Training Grant. The City of Worcester plans to train 80 students and place 56 in environmental jobs. The training program includes 83 hours of instructional training, as detailed in the chart below. Students who complete the training will earn up to two state and five federal certifications. The City of Worcester is targeting students within its six urban core Opportunity Zone Census Tracts, which are identified as disadvantaged Justice40 communities. Key partners include the Central Massachusetts Region Planning Commission, the City of Worcester Department of Public Works and Parks, MassHire Central Region Career Centers, Resource Options, Inc., We Fix It Renovate, Inc., the Worcester Business Development Corporation, the Worcester Housing Authority, and the Worcester Jobs Fund.
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EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, Tribal Nations, 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. The Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2002, as amended by the Brownfields Utilization, Investment and Local Development Act of 2018, was passed to help states, Tribal Nations, and communities around the country clean up and revitalize brownfield sites. Under this law, EPA provides financial assistance to eligible applicants through five competitive grant programs: Multipurpose Grants, Assessment Grants, Revolving Loan Fund Grants, Cleanup Grants, and Brownfields Job Training Grants. Additionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal response programs through a separate mechanism.
Brownfields Job Training Grant funds are provided to nonprofit organizations and other eligible entities to recruit and train unemployed and underemployed residents from communities affected by environmental pollution, economic disinvestment, and brownfields and place them in environmental jobs. Since the program was created in 1998, EPA has awarded 430 job training grants totaling over $113.1 million through Brownfield Job Training Programs. With these grants, approximately 23,460 individuals have completed training and over 17,450 individuals have been placed in careers related to land remediation and environmental health and safety. This equates to a cumulative placement rate of approximately 74 percent. The average starting wage for these jobs over the last five years is approximately $23 an hour.