PathStone Corporation will receive $500,000 for job training through the Environmental Protection Agency's Brownfields Job Training Program.
Pathstone is one of 29 organizations to receive the funding from President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help "recruit, train and place workers for community revitalization and cleanup projects at brownfield sites," according to a Jan. 25 news release. The program awarded $14.3 million to the nearly 30 organizations.
“The investments announced will not only support the cleanup of some of our nation’s most polluted areas, but they will also equip a new generation of workers to take on the significant environmental challenges that plague overburdened neighborhoods, and jumpstart sustainable, long-term careers in the communities that need these jobs the most," EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe said in the release.
PathStone, based in Rochester, N.Y., will use the funds to train up to 120 students in Puerto Rico, the release reported. The program will target students from rural areas in Caguas, Guaynabo, Humacao, Juncos and Las Piedras and the city of San Juan.
McCabe mentioned the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law "is supercharging EPA's Brownfields Program," which helps transform blighted sites, create economic opportunities and protect the health of the public, the release reported. This will help more overburdened communities that ever before.
EPA Region 2 Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia spoke about funding making an impact, according to the release.
“This funding will provide under- and unemployed people in Puerto Rico critical training so they can reimagine and revitalize their neighborhoods and bring environmental justice to their communities, which have been so often overlooked,” Garcia said in the release.
With this financing, which triples the amount typically provided by the EPA for Brownfields employment training, more disadvantaged and burdened communities would gain economically and environmentally, the release reported.
