Brownfields Job Training and Development
Demonstration Pilot Fact Sheet

EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded up to $250,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; job training pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $1,000,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds to make loans for the environmental cleanup of brownfields. These pilot programs are intended to provide EPA, states, tribes, municipalities, and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.

BACKGROUND EPA has selected Hawkeye Community College for a Brownfields Job Training and Development Demonstration Pilot. Hawkeye Community College’s assessment pilot partner is the City of Waterloo Brownfields Assessment Pilot. The City of Waterloo (population 69,000) also received a Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot. The focus of both the Brownfields Assessment Pilot and Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot is the Rath neighborhood of Waterloo, which is located immediately south of the central business district. Fifteen percent of residents in this neighborhood are unemployed, and almost a third of the households receive some form of public assistance. The City of Waterloo was once known as the Factory City of Iowa. The City’s economy declined in the 1980s as a result of changes in the meatpacking industry, rising labor costs, and outdated facilities. Many residents left the city and many properties were left vacant or underused. In recent years, Waterloo’s economy has become more diversified, and a number of large companies have made substantial investments in the City. Brownfields redevelopment activities are underway through the two EPA Pilots, a state-designated Enterprise Zone, and a Consolidated Urban Revitalization Zone. Local environmental contractors are very interested in hiring trained environmental technicians.

PILOT SNAPSHOT Waterloo, IA Date of Announcement: December 2001 Amount: $200,000 Profile: The Pilot will train 40 students as environmental technicians. Students will be recruited from unemployed and underemployed residents of the Rath neighborhood of Waterloo, which has been particularly hard hit by declines in the City’s economy and population.

TRAINING OBJECTIVES

Hawkeye Community College plans to train 40 students, achieve an 80% graduation rate, achieve a 75% placement rate among graduates, and support career placement of graduates for one year after the training is completed. Students will be recruited from unemployed and underemployed residents of the Rath neighborhood of Waterloo. The 254-hour Pilot training program will consist of ecosystem restoration and innovative techniques (including in situ stabilization, soil washing, phytoremediation, air sparging, and bioremediation), hazardous waste handling, lead abatement worker, OSHA general construction, and asbestos identification and abatement.

The training efforts of Hawkeye Community College will be supported by organizations such as the Iowa Department of Human Services, Hazardous Materials Training and Research Institute, Terracon, Inc., Advanced Technologies, Ames Environmental, Inc., and the Waterloo Neighborhood Services Team. Three potential employers have committed to assist in providing student internships, developing the curriculum, providing technical training, loaning instruments, serving on an advisory committee, and placing graduates in jobs.

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Conducting outreach to recruit unemployed and underemployed residents of the Rath neighborhood of Waterloo;
• Conducting training for entry-level positions as brownfields technicians, including courses in the use of innovative assessment and cleanup technologies; and
• Supporting career placement of students for one year after the job training is completed.

CONTACTS

Hawkeye Community College
(319) 296-4247

Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 7
(913) 551-7964

Visit the EPA Region 7 Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/region07/

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

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