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News Releases from Region 02

EPA Provides $200,000 for Green Job Training in Rochester, New York

05/12/2016
Contact Information: 
John Martin (martin.johnj@epa.gov)
212-637-3662

(New York, N.Y. – May 12, 2016) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the City of Rochester, New York a $200,000 workforce development and job training grant to provide green job training. Rochester will use the funds to give unemployed or under-employed Rochester residents the skills they need to enter the environmental job market.

“This EPA funding will create opportunities for people to get jobs that protect the environment and promote sustainable economic development in the Rochester area,” said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. “The training provided through this grant ensures that people’s health is protected while doing this important work.”

Rochester will use EPA funding to train 52 people. The core training program includes 250 hours of instruction, including: 40-hour Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response training, which is required to work on assessing and cleaning up contaminated sites; environmental sampling techniques; how to properly abate lead; and how to work with and handle asbestos, among other topics.

Participants who complete the core training will earn eight state or federal certifications. Rochester will work with the following organizations to identify program participants and to place students in green jobs: RochesterWorks Inc., Rochester Department of Environmental Services, Monroe #1 Board of Cooperative Educational Services, North East Area Development, Connected Communities, Charles House Neighbors in Action, Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative, and Day Environmental Inc.

Since the establishment of the EPA’s Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training grant program in 1998, more than 256 grants have been awarded, exceeding $54 million. Approximately 14,700 individuals have completed training, and of those, more than 10,600 individuals have been placed in full-time employment. This equates to a cumulative job placement rate of nearly 72 percent of graduates.

For more information on EPA’s EWDJT program, please visit:

https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/types-brownfields-grant-funding

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