EPA Selects Baltimore’s Civic Works for $200,000 Job Training Grant

                                                                        Contact: Roy Seneca seneca.roy@epa.gov (215) 814-5567  

EPA Selects Baltimore's Civic Works for $200,000 Job Training Grant

EPA designates a total of $3.3 million for job training nationwide

PHILADELPHIA (May 7, 2018) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that Civic Works in Baltimore was selected to receive a $200,000 Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training (EWDJT) grant to train 72 students for environmental careers.

The non-profit AmeriCorps program is one of 17 organizations nationwide that were selected to receive a total of approximately $3.3 million in Brownfields job training funds to help residents learn the skills needed to secure employment in the environmental field. These grants help prepare people for green jobs that reduce environmental contamination and provide more sustainable futures for the communities most affected by solid and hazardous waste contamination.

"Through these Brownfields job training programs, we're investing in getting Americans back to work and improving local economies and the environment," said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.  "Graduates will acquire the skill set necessary to gain full-time employment in the environmental field and help revitalize their communities."

"EPA's Brownfields Program is proud to have a partner like Civic Works to help ensure the benefits of cleaning up and redeveloping brownfields sites go to the folks who live in the local communities," said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Cosmo Servidio. "Civic Works is helping to make the quality of life better for all the people who live in Baltimore."

Since 2001, EPA has awarded seven previous job training grants to Civic Works, totaling $1.5 million. With this funding, Civic Works has produced 465 graduates and placed 404 Baltimore residents in full time environmental jobs.

"Civic Works is proud to be named as an Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training grantee, and thrilled to continue our partnership with EPA," said Civic Works Director Eli Allen. "This grant will help address the critical need for skilled workers in our local environmental remediation industry, and build pathways to family-sustaining careers for unemployed and underemployed Baltimore residents."

EPA continues to support the EWDJT program to help put people to work by building a skilled workforce across the country. The program awards competitive grants to nonprofit organizations and other eligible entities to recruit, train and place unemployed and underemployed individuals. Individuals completing the training have often overcome a variety of barriers to employment. Many are from low-income neighborhoods. The training programs also serve dislocated workers who have lost their jobs due to manufacturing plant closures, minorities, tribal members, transitioning veterans, ex-offenders and other individuals who may have faced barriers to employment.

Since 1998, when the EWDJT grant program started, more than 288 grants have been awarded. Over 17,100 individuals have completed training, and of those, more than 12,500 individuals have been placed in full-time employment earning an average starting wage of over $14 an hour. This equates to a cumulative job placement rate of 73 percent of graduates.

For more information on EWDJT grantees, including past EWDJT grantees, please visit: https://cfpub.epa.gov/bf_factsheets/.

For more information on EPA's EWDJT program, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/types-brownfields-grant-funding.

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