EPA press release on Williamsburg youth job training, Dec 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document 28-d

®rU.S. Environmental Protection Agency • Region^ New Jersey, New York. Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands 290 Broadway - New York, New York 10007-1866 t’ _ X______ _____________________ www.epa.90v/raolon2

Nina Habib Spencer (212) 637-3670

COMMUNTTY PRESERVATION GROUP IN WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN SETTCTKn FOR EPA BROWNFIELDS YOUTH JOB TRAINING PROGRAM

FOR RELEASE; Friday, December 21,2001

(#01147) NEW YORK, N.Y.— Eighty young men and women from Brooklyn will have the opportunity to

pursue their dreams of becoming environmental technicians through the U.S, Environmental Protection Agency’s

(EPA) Brownfields Job Training and Development program. EPA selected the St. Nicholas Neighborhood

Preservation Corporation in Williamsburg to run an intensive program for qualified young adult residents, which

provides six weeks of hands-on, how-to training on environmental assessment and cleanups in local communities.

The course also features innovative technologies training and field demonstrations. St. Nicks will run the

program with a $200,000 grant from EPA and leveraged funds in excess of $85,000. The group’s aim is to

achieve at least a 70% job placement rate.

EPA supports communities across the country through its Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative

national effort to renew industrial and commercial properties where expansion or redevelopment is complicated

by real or perceived environmental contamination. The area is zoned for mixed use and includes residential

properties among heavy industrial facilities and, underused and vacant brownfields. New York City, under its

EPA-sponsored brownfields pilot project, has slated two sites near St. Nicks for cleanup and development.

“St. Nicks is a proven winner in the field of youth job training. They recently came through in 72 hours with

twenty screened candidates for jobs at ground zero to help meet the immediate demand for emergency response

workers,” said EPA Regional Administrator Jane M. Kenny.

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