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STUDENTS GRADUATE FROM SAN FRANCISCO MINORITY TRAINING PROGRAM

Release Date: 4/28/1998
Contact Information: Lois Grunwald, U.S. EPA, (415) 744-1588, Ilona McGriff, NIEHS-Minority, Worker Training Program, (510) 482-6450

                       NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS
   
        Ten youth land environmental cleanup jobs with industry                  
               
      (San Francisco) -- The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)-Minority Worker Training Program today announced that 22 students have graduated from the San Francisco program, and that so far 10 have landed jobs with industry. The students received nationally recognized certification in asbestos removal, lead abatement, and hazardous waste operations. The young people in the program come from many San Francisco neighborhoods, including Bayview Hunters Point, Visitacion Valley, the Mission District, Chinatown, the Western Addition, Oceanview, Merced and Ingleside. The NIEHS-Worker Training Program -- funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund program -- is part of a national program to recruit and train young people living near hazardous waste sites or contaminated properties for work in the environmental field and general construction. Nationally, the program is administered and supported by the Laborers-AGC Education and Training Fund. In San Francisco, the consortium that operates
the San Francisco NIEHS-Minority Worker Program includes Chinese for Affirmative Action, Ella Hill Hutch Community Center, Mission Hiring Hall/South of Market Employment Center, Young Community Developers and the San Francisco Urban Institute at San Francisco State University. The goal of the program is to place young people of ethnic minority background from San Francisco in jobs related to environmental cleanup and/or construction. The program includes training in job readiness, general construction, hazardous materials handling, asbestos removal and lead abatement, as well as job placement assistance.

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