Brownfields Job Training and Development
Demonstration Pilot Fact Sheet

PILOT SNAPSHOT
Gary, Indiana	Date of Announcement: December 2001 Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot will train 160 students as environmental technicians. Students will be recruited from unemployed, underemployed, and other disadvantaged residents in the areas of the Empowerment Zone Development Site and the Airport Development Zone, which contain many brownfields resulting from the decline of the area’s steel industry.

BACKGROUND

EPA has selected the City of Gary for a Brownfields Job Training and Development Demonstration Pilot. The City of Gary also is a recipient of a Brownfields Assessment Pilot. The Job Training Pilot will focus on the Empowerment Zone Development Site (focus of the Gary Empowerment Zone) and the Airport Development Zone (focus of the Brownfields Assessment Pilot). Neighborhoods near these sites are characterized by low-income households, old housing, and vacant buildings. Unemployment in these neighborhoods is 14% and the poverty rate is 25%.

A former industrial center, the City has declined along with the decline of the steel industry. The City contains many abandoned factories and mill sites. Through the efforts of the Empowerment Zone and Brownfields Assessment Pilot, redevelopment activities are now occurring at major sites within the Empowerment Zone, Airport Redevelopment Zone, industrial parks, and other areas throughout the city. Local environmental contractors have expressed interest in hiring residents trained as environmental technicians to participate in new redevelopment opportunities.

TRAINING OBJECTIVES

The City of Gary plans to train 160 students, achieve a 60% graduation rate, achieve a 70% placement rate among graduates, and support career placement of graduates for one year after the training is completed. Students will be recruited from unemployed, underemployed, and other disadvantaged residents in the areas of the Empowerment Zone Development Site and the Airport Development Zone. The 220-hour Pilot training program will consist of: 1) environmental and technical skills (HAZWOPER, lead abatement, asbestos abatement, introduction to brownfields and environmental justice, confined space, open space, pollution prevention, remediation options, innovative treatment technologies); and 2) construction trades (general construction, OSHA construction safety and health).

The training efforts of the City of Gary will be supported by organizations such as Ivy State Tech College, Northwest Indiana Building Trades/Indiana Plan, Indiana Department of Environmental Management, Indiana University Northwest, Empowerment Zone, Gary Housing Authority, Diversity Consultants, and environmental business partners. Field demonstrations of operating remedial projects will be conducted by environmental business partners. The City of Gary has a first-source hiring ordinance that requires environmental contractors to hire residents from the City.

ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Conducting outreach to recruit unemployed, underemployed, and other disadvantaged residents in the areas of the Empowerment Zone Development Site and the Airport Development Zone;
• 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

City of Gary
(219) 882-3000

Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 5
(312) 886-4747

Visit the EPA Region 5 Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/Region5/

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.