$478,474.00
EPA has selected Iowa Western Community College for a Brownfields Job Training Grant. Iowa Western Community College plans to train 96 students and place 69 in environmental jobs. The training program includes 86 hours of instructional training, as detailed in the chart below. Students who complete the training will earn up to five federal certifications. Iowa Western Community College is targeting unemployed, underemployed, and economically underserved adults, as well as veterans within the City of Council Bluffs, IA, and North Omaha, NE, extending into the Omaha-Council Bluffs MSA. Key partners include the City of Council Bluffs, the Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce and the 712 Initiative, Goodwill Industries, Inc., Impact 7G, Iowa State University Extension West Pottawattamie, Iowa Workforce Development Vocational Rehabilitation Services, IowaWORKS, New Horizons Enterprise, and New Visions Homeless Services.
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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.