Brownfields Job Training (JT) Grants – US

“The objective of the Brownfields Job Training Program is to recruit, train, and place unemployed and under-employed residents of solid and hazardous waste-impacted communities with the skills needed to obtain full-time, sustainable employment. This program promotes the facilitation of activities related to assessment, cleanup, or preparation of contaminated sites, including brownfields, for reuse, while simultaneously building a local workforce with the skills needed to perform remediation work that is supportive of environmental protection and environmental health and safety.” A critical part of EPA’s Brownfields Job Training program is to further environmental justice by ensuring that all residents living in communities historically affected by economic disinvestment, health disparities, and disproportionate and adverse exposures to environmental contamination, which may include low-income, minority, Tribal and indigenous communities, have an opportunity to reap the benefits of revitalization and environmental cleanup. Through the link to on-the-ground assessment and cleanup activities, Brownfields Job Training Grants provide funding to attract, train, and retain a skilled local workforce by prioritizing unemployed and under-employed residents of communities impacted by a variety of waste facilities, blighted properties, and contaminated sites. This program also advances environmental justice through the Justice Initiative.

Training programs funded by the Brownfields Job Training Grant provide program graduates with the opportunity to seek and obtain environmental jobs that contractors may otherwise fill from outside the affected community.

Brownfields Job Training Grants help residents take advantage of jobs across a spectrum of brownfield related activities, including the assessment, cleanup, remediation, and planning/site preparation for the revitalization of brownfields. This can involve the assessment and cleanup of solid and hazardous waste; chemical risk management; stormwater management relating to site cleanup; planning and site preparation for low impact development activities; planning and site preparation for green infrastructure installation and maintenance; and vulnerability assessment and contamination mitigation planning.

Funding Information

• The total funding available under this competitive opportunity is approximately $14,000,000 subject to availability of funds, quality of applications received, and other applicable considerations for FY25. EPA anticipates awarding approximately 20 Brownfields Job Training grants. Applicants may apply for up to $500,000 of EPA funds. (Note, applicants may also request an amount that is less than $500,000.)
• EPA reserves the right to make additional awards under this competition, consistent with Agency policy, if additional funding becomes available. Any additional selections for awards will be made no later than six months from the date of the original selection decision. EPA reserves the right to reject all applications and make no awards under this announcement or make fewer awards than anticipated.
• In appropriate circumstances, EPA reserves the right to partially fund applications by funding discrete portions, types of training, or phases of proposed projects. To maintain the integrity of the competition and selection process, EPA, if it decides to partially fund an application, will do so in a manner that does not prejudice any applicants or affect the basis upon which the application, or portion thereof, was evaluated and selected for award.
• Duration
  • The project period for Brownfields Job Training Grants is five (5) years. Training is anticipated to conclude by the end of the fourth year, with the fifth year of the project period devoted to the placement of remaining graduates in employment and reporting accomplishments data to EPA.
  • Note: Applicants may propose completing the grant in less than five years.

Eligible Funding

• Grant funds must be used for direct programmatic costs associated with implementing a Brownfields Job Training program. Examples of eligible uses of grant funds are listed below.  Please note that this list is intended to be illustrative. Applicants must indicate the specific types of training they propose to deliver in their training program description.
  • Personnel costs, including fringe benefits, for instructors to conduct training and other tasks associated with programmatic training.
  • Personnel and data infrastructure costs to support programmatic reporting requirements, performance-management, and program-evaluation.
  • Costs for recruiting, screening, and placement of individuals in the training program.
  • Personnel costs for caseworkers or other specialists who work with participants to identify barriers they face to employment, connect them to resources, and support their success in the program and in retaining employment, with support provided for up to one year following the completion of the training program.
  • Personnel costs for employer engagement activities, including building new employer relationships, working with employers to inform curriculum, involving employers in the training program, securing hiring commitments for graduates, and supporting trainee success in employment following the program.
  • On-the-job training insurance for trainees.
  • Mentorship associated with on-the-job training, such as peer mentors where an experienced employee is paired with a new trainee.
  • Costs associated with health exams (e.g., pulmonary function tests), drug testing, or licensing fees directly related to the training and/or the placement of graduates in environmental work.
  • Costs used to cover rental fees associated with training facilities or minor alteration of existing facilities. (Construction costs are not allowable.
  • Costs associated with eligible participant support costs, including for:
    • Transportation for trainees for site visits during training or to transport trainees to and from class in the form of stipends or other allowable direct costs (e.g., transportation vouchers or vehicle rental).
    • Reasonable stipends to compensate trainees for participating in training. Note that stipends may only be paid for actual time spent in training classes or on-the-job training activities and must not duplicate training support provided through other Federal, state, tribal or local programs.
    • Reasonable childcare subsidies. Note that childcare subsidies must not duplicate childcare support provided through other Federal, state, tribal or local programs.

Outcomes

• EPA anticipates the outcomes from the projects awarded under this announcement may be an increase in the capacity of governmental entities and nonprofit organizations to:
  • Help residents of communities take advantage of jobs created by the assessment and cleanup of brownfields and the assessment, cleanup, and management of solid and hazardous waste sites and facilities while addressing environmental justice concerns.
  • Support individuals with significant barriers to employment in gaining competitive job skills and achieving high quality employment to support meaningful economic mobility.
  • Provide training that leads to sustainable employment in the environmental field.
  • Improve community involvement in environmental projects and stimulate the development of constructive partnerships.
  • Reduce exposures to hazardous substances and other contaminants and improve the health of workers, occupants, and residents.
  • Foster self-sufficiency and enhance the skills and availability of labor for environmental remediation in particularly impacted communities, including those that are underserved communities.
  • Enable residents to participate in the promotion of environmental health and occupational safety, both on the job and in their communities.

Who can apply?

• In accordance with Assistance Listing (CFDA) 66.815, the following entities are eligible to apply for a Brownfields Job Training Grant:
  • General Purpose Unit of Local Government (EPA uses the definition of Local government in 2 CFR § 200.1.)
  • Land Clearance Authority or other quasi-governmental entity that operates under the supervision and control of, or as an agent of, a general purpose unit of local government.
  • Government entity created by State Legislature.
  • Regional Council or group of General Purpose Units of Local Government.
  • Redevelopment Agency that is chartered or otherwise sanctioned by a State.
  • Federally recognized Indian Tribe other than in Alaska. Intertribal Consortia are eligible for funding in accordance with EPA’s policy for funding intertribal consortia published in the Federal Register on November 4, 2002, at 67 Fed. Reg. 67181. (This policy also may be obtained from your EPA Regional Job Training Coordinator listed.)
  • Alaskan Native Regional Corporation, Alaska Native Village Corporation, and the Metlakatla Indian Community.
  • Nonprofit organizations. For purposes of this grant program, consistent with the definition of Nonprofit organization in 2 CFR § 200.1 the term “nonprofit organization” means any corporation, trust, association, cooperative, or other organization that is operated mainly for scientific, educational, service, charitable, or similar purpose in the public interest; is not organized primarily for profit; and uses net proceeds to maintain, improve, or expand the operation of the organization. Eligible nonprofit organizations may, but are not required to be, exempt from taxation under section 501 of the of the Internal Revenue code.
• Workforce Investment Boards and organized Labor Unions that meet these criteria may be eligible nonprofit organizations. Public and nonprofit private institutions of higher education (including community colleges and similar 2-year institutions) are eligible to apply. However, nonprofit organizations described in Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that engage in lobbying activities as defined in Section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 are not eligible to apply.
• For-profit or proprietary training organizations or trade schools are not eligible to apply.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.