Yesterday in Tampa, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4 Administrator Daniel Blackman and Congresswoman Kathy Castor recognized two Florida-based organizations’ receipt of $1 million in Brownfields job training funds and highlighted the availability of approximately $12 million from President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda for new environmental job training grants. EPA is currently seeking applications nation-wide for projects that will support environmental job training programs and develop the environmental workforce in underserved and overburdened communities.
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.
“This Bipartisan Infrastructure Law more than tripled the funding available for Brownfields Job Training Grants annually,” said EPA Region 4 Administrator Daniel Blackman. “This unprecedented boost is providing critical opportunities for students to learn new skills and support the communities in which they live and serve, including right here in Tampa and nearby Kissimmee, Florida.”
Under the FY 2023 Brownfields Job Training Competition, the Corporation to Develop Communities (CDC) of Tampa, Inc. and the Sustainable Workplace Alliance each received $500,000. CDC of Tampa plans to train 200 students and place at least 180 in environmental jobs in the Tampa area, while the Sustainable Workplace Alliance plans to train 120 students and place at least 76 in environmental jobs in the Kissimmee, Florida area.
“Thanks to the bipartisan Instructure Law, we are growing opportunities and careers across the Tampa Bay area and cleaning up neighborhoods and pollution at the same time,” said U.S. Representative Kathy Castor (FL-14). “The $500,000 EPA grant to the Corporation to Develop Communities, Inc. of Tampa will boost career training initiatives at a time local businesses need skilled workers for a wide variety of jobs. Environmental remediation and redevelopment in Tampa Bay is already opening the door to significant economic opportunities in communities disproportionately impacted by polluted sites and where new jobs and skills training are needed the most. This is exactly what Congress intended when we passed the Infrastructure law, and I am grateful to President Biden and the EPA for sending these investments to the Tampa Bay area.”
“Anytime we can train residents to solve community environmental issues and be part of the sustainability of their own communities, that is a good day. We look forward to increasing our network of employee partners and expanding our partnership with EPA, USF and TVI to continue to help our neighborhoods to thrive,” said Ernest Corney, JR President/CEO at CDC of Tampa.
“The Brownfields Job Training program is an incredible opportunity to assist those in historically underserved communities. The Sustainable Workplace Alliance will focus on vulnerable worker populations in Kissimmee, Florida including unemployed, under-employed, veterans, and those with justice-involvement,” said David Casavant, Principal Investigator at Sustainable Workplace Alliance.
Under the Fiscal Year 2024 Brownfields Job Training Program EPA is now seeking applications for the program and anticipates awarding approximately 24 grants nationwide at amounts up to $500,000 per award. Applications are due by August 2, 2023, via grants.gov. The Request for Application (RFA) notice is now posted on www.grants.gov.
Background:
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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