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EPA Announces Florida State College at Jacksonville as Workforce Development and Job Training Grant Recipient

Release Date: 06/13/2013
Contact Information: James Pinkney, (404) 562-9183 (Direct), (404) 562-8400 (Main) pinkney.james@epa.gov

(ATLANTA – June 13, 2013) Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the selection of Florida State College at Jacksonville, Fla. as a recipient of the agency's Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training (EWDJT) program. The grant supports local work to recruit, train, and place unemployed individuals in jobs that address environmental challenges in their communities. By providing Americans in economically disadvantaged communities with job training in environmental health and safety, EWDJT funding helps protect people’s health and the environment while supporting local economies.

“EPA continues to provide communities with funding to deliver valuable job training to individuals living in communities impacted by harmful pollution,” said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. “This on-the-job training provides Americans struggling to find work with valuable experience while strengthening public health and local economies.”

The college plans to train 60 students and place 45 graduates in environmental jobs.

EPA’s Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training program, which provides environmental and health and safety training, helps graduates develop a broader set of skills that improve their ability to secure short-term contractual work, as well as full-time, employment in the environmental field. Program graduates acquire training and certifications in a variety of areas, such as environmental health and safety, lead and asbestos abatement, landfill management, wastewater treatment, brownfields assessment and cleanup, Superfund cleanup, leaking underground storage tank removal, recycling and emergency response.

As of May 2013 more than11,000 Americans have completed environmental workforce development and job training, of which, more than 8,000 have obtained employment in the environmental field with an average starting hourly wage of $14.12.

More information on environmental workforce development and job training grants: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/pilot_grants.htm

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