Baker Technical Institute in Oregon will receive a $500,000 Brownfields Job Training grant to train 60 students and place at least 57 in local environmental jobs.
The institute’s grant is among 29 grants awarded nationally through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields Job Training Program, a Dec. 14 news release said. The program recruits, trains and places workers at brownfield sites “for community revitalization and environmental cleanup projects.”
“Congratulations to the Baker Technical Institute on being selected for EPA’s Brownfields Job Training grant funding,” EPA Region 10 Administrator Casey Sixkiller said in the release. “EPA is excited to support their efforts to equip the next generation of environmental stewards with in-demand skills for high-paying, long-term jobs that help make their communities safer, cleaner, and healthier places to live and work.”
Baker Technical Institute President Doug Dalton noted how the grant will help the institute, according to the release.
“Two of the best investments that can be made to drive economic development in most communities is improving infrastructure and the people that live there, and this training will do both,” Baker said in the release. “Graduates of this program will enter the market when the demand and pay for skilled workers are at an all-time high.”
“A brownfield is a property, the expansion, redevelopment or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant,” an Environmental Protection Agency’s website said. The U.S. has more than 450,000 brownfields.
