
$500,000.00
EPA has selected Limitless Vistas, Inc. for a Brownfields Job Training Grant. Limitless Vistas, Inc. plans to train 160 students and place 60 in environmental jobs. The training program includes 158 hours of instructional training, as detailed in the chart below. Students who complete the training will earn up to three federal certifications. Limitless Vistas, Inc. is targeting unemployed or underemployed individuals aged 18-plus with a focus on veterans, formerly incarcerated individuals, and opportunity youth not currently in school from the Greater New Orleans Area. Key partners include APTIM Environmental and Infrastructure, BFA Environmental, the Environment & Construction Pre-Apprenticeship Program, the Greater King Solomon Baptist Church, Epic Network, L. Turner and Associates, Leaaf Environmental, LLC, Neel-Schaffer, Inc., New Orleans Regional Planning Commission, Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans, the State of Louisiana Department of Quality Office and Environment Assessment, The Corps Network, the City of New Orleans Planning Commission's Brownfield Program (CPCBP) -Office of Business and External Services, the City of New Orleans - Office of Resilience & Sustainability, HBI Construction Group Inc., and the Urban League of Louisiana.
| Certificates & Technical Curriculum Supported by EPA |
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| Other Curriculum |
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| Additional Skills and 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 456 job training grants totaling over $119.8 million through Brownfield Job Training Programs. To date, excluding pilot program years, approximately 22,400 individuals completed training, and over 16,600 individuals have been placed in careers related to land remediation and environmental health and safety. This equates to a cumulative placement rate of 74 percent. The average starting wage for these jobs over the last five years is approximately $23 an hour.