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EPA Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz Visits Brownfields Job Training Site In Pittsburgh, Highlights Conservation Work

On October 12, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz visited the Beechview-Seldom Seen Greenway in Pittsburgh to witness firsthand the work of Landforce, a land stewardship and workforce development organization.

Ortiz also celebrated over $14 million in EPA brownfields funding in Pennsylvania by visiting a Pittsburgh brownfield site. Read more here.

Landforce is one of two Allegheny County organizations selected by EPA for funding under its fiscal year 2023 Brownfields Job Training Grant competition.

EPA selected Landforce and Auberle to each receive approximately $500,000 to recruit, train, and retain local, skilled individuals. The recruitments will prioritize unemployed or under-employed adults who have faced barriers to stable, family- sustaining employment.

“The Brownfields Job Training Grant Program not only improves communities, it has the power to change lives,” said EPA Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz. “Graduates develop the skills needed to secure full-time, sustainable employment in the environmental field - a win across the board.”

Established in 2015, Landforce has received a total of $700,000 from two EPA brownfield remediation and workforce development multi-year grants to recruit and train adults with barriers to employment, using a rigorously designed curriculum that covers both hard and soft skills, combined with actual employment stewarding Pittsburgh's degraded lands.

In the past eight years, Landforce has trained 147 people and brought 126 of them on as crew members. In addition to this year’s job training grant, they are also the recipient of a $149,336 Solid Waste Infrastructure Grant, which will allow them to divert 625 tons of urban wood waste annually from landfills.

“We’re grateful for federal investments from our partners at US EPA for helping us turn a vision into a reality. With these funds, not only can we continue our current programming - we can now expand to year-round opportunities. In addition to job training, our portfolio will now include the full life cycle management of trees, diverting wood waste from landfills, and giving fallen trees new life,” said Ilyssa Manspeizer, Ph.D. Executive Director, Landforce.

Based in McKeesport, Auberle plans to train 130 students and place at least 95 in environmental jobs amongst their 130 employing partners and 100 referral agencies through the region.

The training program includes 115 hours of instruction in 40-Hour HAZWOPER, 32-Hour Asbestos, Lead Renovation and Repair, Confined Space Entry, OSHA-10, Bloodborne Pathogens, and CPR/ First Aid.

Students who complete the training will earn up to one state and seven federal certifications. Auberle is targeting students within Allegheny County, specifically chronically underemployed, unemployed, and at-risk individuals.

“Auberle’s Brownfields Job Training Program changes lives by putting local people to work in places that have been impacted by industry, helping to revitalize their own communities while lifting themselves and their families out of poverty. We are grateful to the EPA for providing this impactful funding,” said Abby Wolensky, Auberle’s Director of the Employment Institute.

"Witnessing the EPA Brownfields Job Training Grants unfold at the Beechview-Seldom Seen Greenway is symbolic of the transformative, hands-on environmental and employment work occurring in Pittsburgh. Organizations like Landforce and Auberle are making our communities stronger and more resilient,” said U.S. Congresswoman Summer Lee.

“They're cleaning up our environment and, at the same time, giving people who need jobs the training they need to get them. It's about taking care of our neighborhoods and each other at the same time,” said Congresswoman Lee.

“This is not only a revitalization of our lands, but a direct investment in our people, providing them not just with jobs, but with careers that uplift them, their families, and our communities. Together, we're fixing our environment and giving people good, strong job skills for the future,” said Lee. “What we're doing now in Allegheny County and all over the region will make things better for our kids and grandkids, and I'm excited to help heal our environment and our neighbors at the same time."

Visit the Landforce website to learn more about this workforce program.

For more information on federal environmental protection programs, visit the EPA Region 3 Mid-Atlantic webpage.

Resource Link:

-- EPA Region 3 Celebrates Historic Brownfields Investments With Greater Pittsburgh Area Grantees

NewsClips:

-- Post-Gazette: EPA Awards $1 Million Grant To Remediate Future Day Care Center, Preserve Local Historic Structures

-- TribLive: Environmental Groups Claim Victory In EPA Ruling On US Steel Clairton Coke [Coal] Plant Air Permit

-- The Allegheny Front: After Fayette County’s First Oil, Gas Wastewater Injection Well Permit Was Withdrawn From EPA; Residents Worry There May Be More To Come

-- TribLive: Some Plum Boro, Allegheny County Residents, Activists Push Back Against 2nd Oil, Gas Wastewater Injection Well

-- Morning Ag Clips: York County 4-H Member Suggests Idea For EPA Youth Advisory Council

Related Articles:

-- EPA Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz Visits Brownfields Job Training Site In Pittsburgh, Highlights Conservation Work [PaEN]