Brownfields Job Training and Development
Demonstration Pilot Fact Sheet

PILOT SNAPSHOT
Brooklyn, NY	Date of Announcement: December 2001 Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot will train 80 students as environmental technicians. Students will be recruited from unemployed and underemployed residents of the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, which houses pre-dominantly minority residents and includes numerous heavy industrial, underused, and vacant brownfields.

BACKGROUND

EPA has selected St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corporation (St. Nicks) for a Brownfields Job Training and Development Demonstration Pilot. St. Nicks’ assessment pilot partner is the New York City Brownfields Assessment Pilot. St. Nicks is a community development corporation established in 1975 serving the Latino, Polish-American, Italian-American, and African-American populations of the Williamsburg/Greenpoint neighborhoods in Brooklyn. St. Nicks has recruited and screened 80 individuals for temporary positions in the World Trade Center cleanup effort.

The Job Training Pilot will focus on residents in the Williamsburg neighborhood (population 88,000) of Brooklyn. Neighborhood residents are predominantly minorities, and more than 25% of the residents live in poverty. Residents are in need of jobs with a career ladder. The area is zoned for mixed use and includes heavy industrial, underused, and vacant brownfields. Two of the City’s Assessment Pilot sites slated for cleanup and development are located near St. Nicks. There is steady demand for entry-level environmental workers from local environmental contractors.

TRAINING OBJECTIVES

St. Nicks plans to train 80 students, achieve a graduation rate of 85%, achieve a job placement rate of 70% of graduates, and support career placement of graduates for two years after the training is completed. Students will be recruited from among unemployed and underemployed residents of the Williamsburg neighborhood. The 192-hour Pilot training program will consist of an introduction to environmental issues, chemical hazards and hazardous materials management, remediation techniques, health and safety, and 40-hour HAZWOPER, including training in the use of innovative assessment and cleanup technologies. Field trips with technology demonstrations are planned to two nearby Assessment Pilot brownfields.

The training efforts of St. Nicks will be supported by organizations such as Williamsburg Works, Clean Harbors Environmental Services, Miller Environmental, Hunter College, Labor Technical College/Carpenter’s Union, One Stop Centers, and STRIVE. St. Nicks will establish an ad-hoc advisory board consisting of representatives of employers, unions, trainers, and community residents to provide advice on Pilot implementation.

ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Conducting outreach to recruit unemployed and underemployed residents of the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn;
• 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 two years after the job training is completed.

CONTACTS

St. Nicholas Neighborhood
Preservation Corporation
(718) 302-2045

Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 2
(212) 637-4291

Visit the EPA Region 2 Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/brownfields/

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