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Brownfields 2008 Grant Fact Sheet
Latino Community Development Agency, Oklahoma City, OK
EPA BROWNFIELDS PROGRAM
EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders 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 this 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. Additionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal response programs through a separate mechanism.
CLEANUP GRANT
$200,000 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected the Latino Community Development Agency for a brownfields cleanup grant. Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to clean up the former JC Penney Building at 313 South Commerce Street in the Capitol Hill District of Oklahoma City. The site building was constructed between 1947 and 1949 and was used by various retail stores until the early 1980s. The building is contaminated with metals and inorganic substances.
COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION
The Latino Community Development Agency (LCDA) was selected to receive a brownfields cleanup grant. The LCDA is targeting the former JC Penney Building in the Capitol Hill District (population 1,382), part of the federally designated Empowerment Zone of Oklahoma City (population 537,734) in central Oklahoma. The Capitol Hill District is the center of the city's Latino community. More than 35 percent of residents in the district live below the poverty level, and the median household income is $11,621. The city has inventoried nearly 1,000 brownfields. Abandoned storefronts such as the former JC Penney Building detract from the neighborhood's vitality, deter potential investor interest, and pose potential human health concerns. Cleanup of the site is expected to help alleviate those concerns, and help leverage funds to complete the renovation of the building that is planned to be the new home of the LCDA. Redevelopment of the site is expected to help the LCDA expand its child, social, and educational services to the city's Latino residents and to the Capitol Hill District.
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
214-665-6780
EPA Region 6 Brownfields web site
Grant Recipient: Latino Community Development Agency, OK
405-236-0737
The information presented in this fact sheet comes from the grant proposal; EPA cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. The cooperative agreement for the grant has not yet been negotiated. Therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.