Deadline: 22-Sep-20
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting applications from eligible entities, including nonprofit organizations, to deliver Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training programs that recruit, train, and place local, unemployed and under-employed residents with the skills needed to secure full-time employment in the environmental field.
Funding Information
- The total funding available under this competitive opportunity is approximately $3,000,000, subject to availability of funds, quality of applications received, and other applicable considerations for FY21.
- EPA anticipates awarding approximately 15 environmental workforce development and job training grants.
- Applicants may apply for up to $200,000 of EPA funds.
Expected Outputs
The expected outputs for the grants awarded under these guidelines may include but are not limited to:
- The number of individuals recruited, trained, certified, and placed in environmental careers in communities impacted by solid and hazardous waste sites and facilities. Each grant award is anticipated to result in at least 50 individuals completing training, with a minimum job placement rate of 70%. These target numbers are approximations and will vary by recipient depending on the comprehensiveness of a curriculum and where the recipient is located (urban versus rural locations where a larger number of individuals may be more easily recruited than locations where recruitment may be more challenging as a result of smaller populations).
- The number of classroom-style training, practical training, and curricula modules.
- A number of appropriate certifications in environmental sampling and site cleanup methods.
- A number of certifications in OSHA 29 CFR 1910.120 40-hour HAZWOPER training.
Expected 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.
- Provide training that leads to sustainable employment in the environmental field.
- Improve community involvement and stimulate the development of constructive partnerships.
- Reduce chemical exposures and improve the health of workers, occupants, and residents.
- Foster self-sufficiency and enhance the skills and availability of labor for environmental remediation in environmental justice and other communities impacted by environmental contamination.
- Enable residents to participate in the promotion of environmental health and occupational safety, both on the job and in their communities.
Eligibility Criteria
In accordance with CFDA 66.815, the following entities are eligible to apply for an Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Grant:
- General Purpose Unit of Local Government
- 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.
- Indian Tribe other than in Alaska. (The exclusion of Alaskan tribes from grant eligibility is statutory at CERCLA §104(k)(1)). 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, 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. Workforce Investment Boards and organized Labor Unions that meet these criteria may be eligible nonprofit organizations. Public and nonprofit private educational institutions are eligible to apply. However, nonprofit organizations described in Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that engage in lobbying activities are not eligible to apply. For-profit or proprietary training organizations or trade schools are not eligible to apply.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=328343