News Update
EPA awards $5.1 million in environmental workforce, job training grants
Staff report
Enviro-Net
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency selected 26 organizations across the country to receive a total of $5.1 million in grants for environmental job training programs.
Funded through the agency’s Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Program, these grants help to create a skilled workforce in communities where EPA brownfields assessment and cleanup activities are taking place.
Of the programs selected for funding this year, 30 percent plan to serve residents of communities experiencing persistent poverty and nearly 70 percent plan to serve veterans. All 26 selected programs plan to serve communities with census tracts designated as federal Opportunity Zones--an economically-distressed community where new investments, under certain conditions, may be eligible for preferential tax treatment.
Since the program began in 1998, more than 288 grants have been awarded. More than 18,000 individuals have completed training, and of those, more than 13,679 individuals have been placed in full-time employment earning an average starting wage of over $14 an hour.
The Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa Inc. was the sole Florida awardee.