The Los Angeles Conservation Corps (LACC) has been awarded a $500,000 Brownfields job training grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“We are proud of the important workforce development efforts the Los Angeles Conservation Corps achieves with this funding,” EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman said in the Feb. 14 announcement.
The funding, backed by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will enable LACC to train and place 80 unemployed or dislocated residents from South L.A. and Boyle Heights in environmental jobs, the statement reports.
“Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA is bringing unprecedented resources to our longstanding local partners, revitalizing underserved communities, and advancing environmental justice," Guzman said.
The training program includes instruction on hazardous materials management, workplace safety, and environmental site awareness, according to the release. Graduates will earn industry-recognized certifications to ensure employment opportunities lead to long-term careers. LACC has received 11 Brownfields job training grants totaling $2.8 million from 2005-2020.
“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,” Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) said in the statement.
The grants support community efforts to remediate contaminated "Brownsfield" sites for reuse and to address issues of environmental inequality and justice in historically underserved communities, the EPA states; the people completing the job-training programs funded by the EPA often are from the affected neighborhoods.
The LA Conservation Corps has previously benefited from a long-standing partnership with the EPA, according to the agency.
The Corps’ CEO Wendy Butts said that the training, certificates, and job opportunities have been "embraced" by members of the corps.
"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," Butts said in the announcement.
