Brownfields Job Training and Development
Demonstration Pilot Fact Sheet

BACKGROUND

EPA has selected the New Jersey Youth Corps for a Brownfields Job Training and Development Demonstration Pilot. The New Jersey Youth Corps plans to concentrate its workforce development efforts in the Cities of Camden and Newark, New Jersey, both of which are Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilots.

Both Cities are primarily minority and State Urban Enterprise Zones. Camden is a Federal Empowerment Zone and Newark is a Federal Enterprise Community. Camden is one of the three poorest cities in the country. It suffers from a 16.3% unemployment rate, 40% poverty rate, and a more than 70% high school dropout rate. Newark's poverty rate is 26% and its per capita income is one of the lowest of the 50 largest cities in the country. Fifty percent of Newark's students drop out of school by the ninth grade. A decline in industrial activity in both Cities has resulted in numerous abandoned or underused brownfields. Efforts by the State of New Jersey and the Cities of Camden and Newark to address high unemployment and low education levels and to assess and clean up brownfields create a strong need for environmental training.

TRAINING OBJECTIVES

The New Jersey Youth Corps plans to train 60 students with the EPA grant, achieve a 90% placement rate, and track students for one year. Participants to be targeted are young adults between the ages of 16 and 25 who have voluntarily entered the New Jersey Youth Corps, are unemployed or underemployed, are mostly minority, and lack a high school diploma. The Pilot training program will consist of a 150-hour brownfields assessment and cleanup training program, which will include training in the use of innovative technologies. Further training will be provided for participants as needed to assist in job placement. The New Jersey Youth Corps' training efforts will be supported by organizations such as the New Jersey Institute of Technology, International Youth Organization of Newark, and Work Group of Camden.

ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Developing a curriculum for brownfields assessment and cleanup; and

• Conducting training in site assessment, cleanup methods, and the use of innovative technologies.

CONTACTS

New Jersey
Youth Corps
(609) 588-3198

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/

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