[StBernard] Grants News Release (Region 6): Greater New Orleans Area receives over $485, 000 for Green Endeavors

[Westley Annis]

Greater New Orleans Area receives over $485,000 for Green Endeavors 

Will Aid Environmental Justice, Environmental Education and Environmental
Job Training 

(DALLAS - August 31, 2011)  Today in New Orleans, EPA Region Administrator
Al Armendariz announced that EPA is awarding $487,500 in environmental
justice, job training and education grants to the Greater New Orleans Area.
The projects will recruit and train people for environmental jobs and
provide air quality sampling. Regional Administrator Armendariz was joined
by Charles Allen, Director of Environmental Affairs for the City of New
Orleans, at the press conference where they highlighted the impact the
investment will have on the city post Katrina. 

"EPA is committed to creating green jobs and reaching out to low-income and
minority communities that often bear the brunt of environmental
degradation," said EPA Regional Administrator Al Armendariz. "This grant
will help extend and enrich our effort to clean up all communities by adding
more sustainable jobs to the Greater New Orleans area - a region
Administrator Jackson is personally and professionally dedicated to
revitalizing."     

Recipients and Awards: 

Louisiana Green Corps: $300,000 environmental job training grant to train
low-income residents over a two year period in three environmentally focused
tracks: Energy Efficiency and Green Building; Solar and/or Solar Thermal
Installation; and Materials Reuse, Deconstruction and Recycling. 

Global Green USA: $100,000 Green Jobs Pilot Program grant providing job
training for local youth and job placement with local, small construction
contractors.  With the support of the Department of Energy and the City of
New Orleans, Global Green USA's NOLA Wise program stimulates the market for
energy efficiency retrofits, providing contractors and apprentices with a
steady stream of employment. 

Lower Ninth Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development: $32,500
Pollution Control grant in partnership with Nurtured World which provide
residents of the Lower Ninth Ward with training on energy efficiency in
their community. 

Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association: $30,000 Environmental
Education grant providing local youth with training to monitor and measure
air quality in New Orleans East neighborhood. 

The Louisiana Bucket Brigade: $25,000 Environmental Justice grant providing
air quality sampling in and around industrial areas of Southeast Louisiana. 

Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training grant funds are
provided to nonprofit organizations and other eligible entities to recruit,
train and place predominantly low-income and minority unemployed and
under-employed residents from solid and hazardous waste-impacted
communities. 

Trainees learn the skills needed to secure full-time, sustainable employment
in the environmental field, including a focus on assessment and cleanup
activities. These grants help to create green jobs that reduce environmental
contamination and promote sustainability in communities throughout the
nation. 

EPA's Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Program helps
train people for jobs in the assessment, cleanup and redevelopment of
brownfields properties, including abandoned gas stations, old textile mills,
closed smelters and other abandoned industrial and commercial properties.
These investments target under-served and economically disadvantaged
neighborhoods - places where environmental cleanups and new jobs are most
needed. EPA awarded its first Job Training Grant through the Brownfields
program in 1998. 

More about activities in EPA Region 6:
http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/region6.html 

EPA audio file is available at
http://www.epa.gov/region6/6xa/podcast/aug2011.html 

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