Hiring Jobless Workers to Meet Local Environmental Challenges
The city of Toledo will receive a $200,000 award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to train and hire workers to address environmental challenges in the community, Congresswoman Kaptur said.
“Toledo is one of only 15 grantees in the country to receive an award,” said Congresswoman Kaptur. “It will put people to work and at the same time meet local environmental challenges.”
Kaptur, who serves on the House Appropriations Committee, said USEPA awarded a total of $3 million through the Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training (EWDJT) program.
The funds will be used to recruit and rain at least 75 students and place at least 60 graduates of the program in environmental jobs to clean up economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.
“People want and deserve both a healthier environment and greater economic opportunity,” said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. “This training program for environmental jobs has a proven track record. Approximately 71 percent of graduates find employment in environmental fields that serve local communities.”
The EWDJT program seeks to stimulate the partnership development among local workforce investment boards, community-based organizations, governmental entities, and academic institutions. The program also helps to enhance the skills and the availability of local labor while providing communities the flexibility to design training programs that meet their local market’s demands and preferences.
Since 1998, EPA has awarded more than $42 million under the EWDJT program. Approximately 10,300 people had completed training and approximately 7,300 obtained employment in the environmental field, with an average starting hourly wage of $14.12. The development of this green workforce will allow the trainees to develop skills that will make them competitive in the construction and redevelopment fields.
Graduates of the program are equipped with skills and certifications in various environmental fields including lead and asbestos abatement, environmental site sampling, construction and demolition debris recycling, underground storage tank removal, ecological restoration, and green building techniques. Graduates use these skills to improve the environment and people’s health while supporting economic development in their communities.
For more information: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/pilot_grants.htm