Brownfields 2008 Grant Fact Sheet

STRIVE/East Harlem Employment Services, Inc., NY

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 STRIVE/East Harlem Employment Services, Inc., for a job training grant. STRIVE plans to train 120 students, place 96 in environmental jobs, and track graduates for two years. Trainees will receive 106 hours of training, including certification training in HAZWOPER; OSHA construction health and safety, disaster site worker, and confined space entry; lead abatement handler; and CPR and first aid safety. STRIVE will draw upon the expertise of Ando International, an environmental training firm, to provide instruction in environmental cleanup. Participants will be recruited from among the residents of East Harlem who are concurrently enrolled in STRIVE’s Construction Skills program. STRIVE has developed a substantial roster of employers looking for environmental remediation technician program graduates. These employers include project partners Microecologies, Inc., Clean Harbors Environmental, Inc., James Weldon Johnson Houses, and Mount Sinai Hospital.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

STRIVE/East Harlem Employment Services, Inc., was selected to receive a job training grant. STRIVE will target the residents of New York City’s East Harlem neighborhood (population 110,000). The unemployment rate in this primarily African-American and Hispanic neighborhood is more than 16 percent, and 38 percent of area residents live below the poverty level. East Harlem has a very high concentration of hazardous waste handlers and sources of air pollution. It also has one of the highest asthma rates in the United States. The concurrent construction and environmental remediation training available through the STRIVE program positions trainees to respond to the enormous demand for construction workers with environmental training in Harlem. Graduates without the construction component of the training will be qualified for placement directly into brownfields remediation jobs in the area and throughout the City of New York. The city has approximately 6,000 vacant or abandoned industrially zoned properties covering about 7,600 acres.

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.

Yocasta De Jesus, EPA Region 2
212-637-4340
EPA Region 2 Brownfields web site

Grant Recipient: STRIVE/East Harlem Employment Services, Inc., NY
646-335-0832

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