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Los Angeles Conservation Corps Receives $200,000 for Environmental Jobs Training

Release Date: 06/21/2012
Contact Information: Nahal Mogharabi, [email protected]

LOS ANGELES – Today at the Sewage and Water Board of New Orleans, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Assistant Administrator Mathy Stanislaus announced that EPA is awarding $3 million to 15 grantees through the Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training (EWDJT) program. The Los Angeles Conservation Corps (LACC), Calif. is one of the 15 grantees that will receive $200,000 for environmental workforce development and job training

The grants will recruit, train, and place unemployed individuals in jobs that address environmental challenges in their communities. These investments will protect the health of local communities by targeting economically disadvantaged neighborhoods where environmental cleanups and jobs are often most needed.

“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 LACC plans to train 60 students, and place at least 48 graduates in environmental jobs, and track graduates for one year. LACC is targeting underemployed and unemployed young adults living in the Pacoima District of the San Fernando Valley for this job training program. Key partners include the City of Los Angeles Brownfields Program, Pacoima Beautiful, WorkSource California, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, the Los Angeles Community Development Department, Los Angeles Housing Department, Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, and the Northeast San Fernando Valley WorkSource Center.

EPA’s Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training 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 individual market’s demands and preferences.

The core training program for LACC includes 82 hours of environmental training in 40-hour HAZWOPER safety, 32-hour asbestos abatement worker, and OSHA site worker safety. Participants also will be offered an additional 59 hours of training covering a variety of innovative remediation cleanup and detection methods, including wastewater treatment, underground storage tank leak prevention, landfill remediation capping, soil sampling and analysis, and chemical safety and stewardship .

Since 1998, EPA has awarded more than $42 million under the Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training program. As of June 2012, approximately 10,300 individuals 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 on the 15 environmental workforce development and job training grants nationwide, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/job.htm