Environmental Career Worker Training Program

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The Sustainable Workplace Alliance (SWA) and its alliance partners will provide model training to better protect workers in underserved communities that have been negatively impacted by pollution, blight and emergency events. These vulnerable populations are unlikely to know their rights to a safe workplace, the inherent risks of the work they do, the dangers of misuse of opioids, the hazards created by pollution or hazardous materials, and the most effective ways to protect themselves from these harms. Our aim is to assist communities traditionally overburdened by economic distress and exposures to hazardous environmental conditions by providing environmental, health and safety related training and job placement services. By assisting these citizens, we can promote economic development, address health disparities, and advance environmental justice in these disadvantaged communities which will enable these citizens to participate in addressing the needs of their communities in a more meaningful way. SWA and its alliance partners will focus is on English and Spanish-speaking populations in Florida, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and the Pacific Island regions including Hawaii, Guam, Saipan, American Samoa and Palau. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, worker populations in our geographic targets include over 83,600 workers in construction (hazardous materials removal and laborer). Over the five years duration of the ECWTP project, SWA will conduct 240 classes, train 260 students and cover 35,880 contact hours of training. 200 graduates will be placed in viable and sustainable environmental jobs. Students would typically be employed as remediation contractors, site demolition workers, debris removal and post-emergency cleanup workers; laborers who work with mold, asbestos, and lead-based paint; and abatement workers performing work at Superfund or brownfield sites. This model training and outreach program is designed to reduce injuries and death has an obvious positive effect on public health. Secondly, by placing disadvantaged citizens in viable jobs in the environmental and construction industries, both emotional and economic well-being will improve for the student, their family and their community.