Brownfields 2007 Grant Fact Sheet

City of Camden, AR

EPA BROWNFIELDS PROGRAM

EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders in economic development to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. On January 11, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act. Under the Brownfields Law, EPA provides financial assistance to eligible applicants through four competitive grant programs: assessment grants, revolving loan fund grants, cleanup grants, and job training grants. The brownfields job training grants provide residents of communities impacted by brownfields with the skills and training needed to effectively gain employment in assessment and cleanup activities associated with brownfield redevelopment and environmental remediation. Additionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal response programs through a separate mechanism.

JOB TRAINING GRANT

$200,000

EPA has selected the City of Camden for a job training grant. Camden plans to train 30 participants and place at least 24 in environmental jobs. Students will be tracked using a specialized career planning system that will track graduates and provide them with support throughout their lifetime. The Arkansas Workforce Center will also monitor graduates for several years. The training program will provide 344-hour training sessions over a nine-week period. The training program will include coursework in OSHA safety regulations, HAZWOPER, lead and asbestos abatement, confined space entry, and industrial chemical spill response. Students will be able to convert their training and certifications into college credit. Southern Arkansas University (SAU) Tech will provide the primary trainers. The Southwest Arkansas Workforce Investment Board will recruit prospective trainees from the City of Camden and Ouachita County. The City of Camden will work with SAU Tech and the Workforce Investment Board to place graduates in environmental jobs.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The City of Camden was selected to receive a job training grant. Camden (population 13,154) is a rural community located in Ouachita County in southern Arkansas. Half of Camden's residents are minorities and more than 22 percent live below the poverty level. The unemployment rate in Ouachita County is nearly 8 percent, compared to the national average of 4.6 percent. Camden has been focusing its brownfields efforts on the Adams Avenue Redevelopment site, which is located in the heart of the city along the Ouachita River. Once fully cleaned up and redeveloped, this 80-acre redevelopment project will help return a blighted area of the city to productive use. The Ouachita Valley Business and Technology Development Center was recently constructed on one of the cleaned up parcels. Through this grant, Camden residents will be given the opportunity to actively participate in the cleanup and redevelopment of the Adams Avenue Redevelopment and other brownfield sites in the city and surrounding area. In addition, the skills gained by program participants will lead to sustainable future employment in the environmental field.

CONTACTS

For further information, including specific grant contacts, additional grant information, brownfields news and events, and publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site.

EPA Region 6 Brownfields Team
214-665-6755
http://www.epa.gov/region6/brownfields

Grant Recipient: City of Camden, AR
870-836-6436

The cooperative agreement for this grant has not yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.