Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that the Los Angeles Conservation Corps (LACC) has received a $500,000 Brownfields job training grant. These funds, supported by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, enable LACC to train and place 80 unemployed or dislocated residents from South L.A. and Boyle Heights in environmental jobs.
“We are proud of the important workforce development efforts the Los Angeles Conservation Corps achieves with this funding,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. “Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA is bringing unprecedented resources to our longstanding local partners, revitalizing underserved communities, and advancing environmental justice.”
"The LA Conservation Corps has enjoyed and benefitted from a long relationship with the Environmental Protection Agency,” said the Corps’ CEO Wendy Butts. "Our Corpsmembers have embraced the training, certificates, and job opportunities that this partnership presents. We are proud that this long-standing partnership has placed so many of our Corpsmembers in jobs that provide economic stability and mobility while caring for the environmental future of our city."
“I am proud that the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s impact is already being felt in our communities, creating good-paying, union jobs and providing everyone with the opportunity to be a part of the green economy,” said Congressman Jimmy Gomez (CA-34). “The federal funding announced today will train Angelenos from Boyle Heights and South L.A. to tackle the environmental challenges that affect our city and planet while providing the tools and resources they need to thrive in the workforce. This is how we support our communities that have been disproportionately impacted by climate change and environmental injustice while growing our economy from the bottom up and middle out.”
Through LACC’s training, graduates earn a variety of certifications to ensure that employment opportunities lead to long-term careers with local unions, environmental contractors, private industry, and the public sector. The training program includes instruction on hazardous materials management, workplace safety, First Aid/CPR, confined space entry, fall protection, environmental site awareness, pesticide application, mold remediation, and lead abatement. Participants will complete the program holding three federal, three state, and 12 industry-recognized certifications. To date, LACC has received 11 Brownfields job training grants totaling $2.8M from 2005-2020 and trained 641 students with that support.
Funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, these grants support communities actively cleaning up and preparing “brownfield sites” for reuse. Brownfields are vacant or underutilized properties that may have contamination from past uses. Rather than filling local jobs with contractors from distant communities, grant recipients prepare local residents to satisfy this job demand. Individuals completing a job training program funded by EPA often overcome a variety of barriers to employment, and many of these individuals are from historically underserved neighborhoods affected by environmental justice issues. Job training and workforce development are important parts of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to advancing economic opportunities and addressing environmental justice issues in underserved communities to build a better America.
For more information on this and other Brownfields Program grants, please visit the Brownfields Job Training Grants webpage.
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