(AGENPARL) – gio 12 ottobre 2023 Issued: Oct 12, 2023 (12:42pm EDT)
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RESEND- EPA Visits Brownfields Job Training Site in Pittsburgh; Highlights
Conservation Work
EPA Brownfields Job Training Grants, funded through the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law, build a skilled environmental workforce in overburdened
communities
PITTSBURGH (October 12, 2023) – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz visited the Beechview-Seldom Seen Greenway
in Pittsburgh today to witness firsthand the work of Landforce, a land
stewardship and workforce development organization.
Landforce is one of two Allegheny County organizations selected by EPA for
funding under its fiscal year 2023 Brownfields Job Training Grant
competition.  EPA selected Landforce and Auberle to each receive
approximately $500,000 to recruit, train, and retain local, skilled
individuals.  The recruitments will prioritize unemployed or under-employed
adults who have faced barriers to stable, family- sustaining employment.
“The Brownfields Job Training Grant Program not only improves communities,
it has the power to change lives,” said EPA Regional Administrator Adam
Ortiz. “Graduates develop the skills needed to secure full-time, sustainable
employment in the environmental field – a win across the board.”
Established in 2015, Landforce has received a total of $700,000 from two EPA
brownfield remediation and workforce development multi-year grants to recruit
and train adults with barriers to employment, using a rigorously designed
curriculum that covers both hard and soft skills, combined with actual
employment stewarding Pittsburgh’s degraded lands.
In the past eight years, Landforce has trained 147 people and brought 126 of
them on as crew members. In addition to this year’s job training grant, they
are also the recipient of a $149,336 Solid Waste Infrastructure Grant, which
will allow them to divert 625 tons of urban wood waste annually from
landfills.
“We’re grateful for federal investments from our partners at US EPA for
helping us turn a vision into a reality. With these funds, not only can we
continue our current programming – we can now expand to year-round
opportunities. In addition to job training, our portfolio will now include the
full life cycle management of trees, diverting wood waste from landfills, and
giving fallen trees new life,” said Ilyssa Manspeizer, Ph.D. Executive
Director, Landforce.
Based in McKeesport, Auberle plans to train 130 students and place at least 95
in environmental jobs amongst their 130 employing partners and 100 referral
agencies through the region. The training program includes 115 hours of
instruction in 40-Hour HAZWOPER, 32-Hour Asbestos, Lead Renovation and Repair,
Confined Space Entry, OSHA-10, Bloodborne Pathogens, and CPR/ First Aid.
Students who complete the training will earn up to one state and seven federal
certifications. Auberle is targeting students within Allegheny County,
specifically chronically underemployed, unemployed, and at-risk individuals.
“Auberle’s Brownfields Job Training Program changes lives by putting local
people to work in places that have been impacted by industry, helping to
revitalize their own communities while lifting themselves and their families
out of poverty. We are grateful to the EPA for providing this impactful
funding,” said Abby Wolensky, Auberle’s Director of the Employment
Institute.
“Witnessing the EPA Brownfields Job Training Grants unfold at the
Beechview-Seldom Seen Greenway is symbolic of the transformative, hands-on
environmental and employment work occurring in Pittsburgh. Organizations like
Landforce and Auberle are making our communities stronger and more resilient.
They’re cleaning up our environment and, at the same time, giving people who
need jobs the training they need to get them. It’s about taking care of our
neighborhoods and each other at the same time. This is not only a
revitalization of our lands, but a direct investment in our people, providing
them not just with jobs, but with careers that uplift them, their families,
and our communities. Together, we’re fixing our environment and giving people
good, strong job skills for the future. What we’re doing now in Allegheny
County and all over the region will make things better for our kids and
grandkids, and I’m excited to help heal our environment and our neighbors at
the same time,” said U.S. Congresswoman Summer Lee.
Background:
President Biden’s leadership and bipartisan Congressional action have
delivered the single-largest investment in U.S. brownfields infrastructure
ever through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which invests more than $1.5
billion over five years through EPA’s highly successful Brownfields Program.
The Brownfields Jobs Training Program also advances President Biden’s
Justice40 Initiative, which aims to deliver at least 40 percent of the
benefits of certain government programs to disadvantaged communities.
The EPA’s Brownfields Job Training (JT) grant program is a unique employment
and training program. The grants allow nonprofit and other eligible
organizations to recruit, train, and retain a local, skilled workforce by
prioritizing unemployed and under-employed, including low-income individuals
living in areas impacted by solid and hazardous waste in environmental jobs.
Students learn the skills and credentials needed to secure full-time,
sustainable employment in the environmental field, including brownfields
assessment and cleanup. These jobs reduce environmental contamination and
build more sustainable futures for communities. Communities have the
flexibility to deliver eligible training that meets the local labor market
demands of the environmental sector in their communities.
Since 1998, EPA has awarded 400 job training grants. With these grants, more
than 20,600 individuals have completed training and over 15,300 individuals
have been placed in careers related to land remediation and environmental
health and safety.
Learn more on EPA’s Brownfields Program.
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