As stated in Assistance Listing 66.815, “The objective of the Brownfields Job Training Program is to recruit, train, and place unemployed and under-employed residents of solid and hazardous waste-impacted communities with the skills needed to obtain full-time, sustainable employment. This program promotes the facilitation of activities related to assessment, cleanup, or preparation of contaminated sites, including brownfields, for reuse, while simultaneously building a local workforce with the skills needed to perform remediation work that are supportive of environmental protection and environmental health and safety.”
A critical part of EPA’s Brownfields Job Training program is to further environmental justice by ensuring that residents living in communities historically affected by economic disinvestment, health disparities, and disproportionate and adverse exposures to environmental contamination, including low-income, minority, tribal and indigenous communities, have an opportunity to reap the benefits of revitalization and environmental cleanup. Through the link to on-the-ground assessment and cleanup activities, Brownfields Job Training Grants provide funding to attract, train, and retain a skilled local workforce by prioritizing unemployed and under-employed residents of communities impacted by a variety of waste facilities, blighted properties, and contaminated sites.
Brownfields Job Training Grants help residents take advantage of jobs across a spectrum of brownfield related activities, including the assessment, cleanup, remediation, and planning/site preparation for the revitalization of brownfields. This can involve the assessment and cleanup of solid and hazardous waste; chemical risk management; stormwater management relating to site cleanup; planning and site preparation for low impact development activities; planning and site preparation for green infrastructure installation and maintenance; and vulnerability assessment and contamination mitigation planning.
The activities to be funded under this announcement support EPA’s FY 2022-2026 Strategic Plan. Awards made under this announcement will support Goal 6 – Safeguard and Revitalize Communities, Objective 6.1 – Clean Up and Restore Land for Productive Uses and Healthy Communities of EPA’s Strategic Plan. All applications must be for projects that support this goal and objective.
For Use of Grant Funds, see https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-05/FY%2024%20BF%20Job%20Training%20RFA_0.pdf#page=5
For anticipated outcomes, see https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-05/FY%2024%20BF%20Job%20Training%20RFA_0.pdf#page=12
Estimated Total Program Funding:
