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Brownfields
2004 Job Training
Grant
Fact Sheet
Selawik, AK
EPA Brownfields Program
EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. On January 11, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act. Under the Brownfields Law, EPA provides financial assistance to eligible applicants through four competitive grant programs: assessment grants, revolving loan fund grants, cleanup grants, and job training grants. Additionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal response programs through a separate mechanism.
Job Training Grant
$40,000
EPA has selected the City of Selawik for a job training grant. Selawik plans to train at least eight local residents, achieve a 100% placement rate, and track students for at least eighteen months. The training program will consist of 40 hours of HAZWOPER certification training plus guidance on job opportunities and assistance with job applications. Students will be recruited from the City of Selawik and the Native Village of Selawik, which is co-located with the city and serves the same population. A number of local projects planned for the next few years will provide job opportunities for individuals trained under this grant.
Community Description
The City of Selawik was selected to receive a job training grant. Selawik is an Inuit community (population 778) where almost 71% of the population is seasonally unemployed. Approximately 34% of the population lives in poverty. The community relies on seasonal subsistence hunting and fishing, which have been severely impacted by local brownfields. In addition, the health and liability risks presented by brownfields are preventing the development of a sustainable ecotourism industry. The city has a number of cleanup and construction projects slated over the next several years that will require people with environmental training. The city is scheduled to hire waste and emergency response employees to manage its hazardous waste program. Since Selawik can only be accessed by plane, it would be much more cost-effective to hire from the local community.
Contacts
For further information, including specific grant contacts, additional grant information, brownfields news and events, and publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields Web site (http://www.epa.gov/brownfields).
EPA Region 10 Brownfields Team
(206) 553-7299
EPA Region 10 Brownfields Web site
(http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/CLEANUP.NSF/sites/bf)
Grant Recipient: City of Selawik, AK
(907) 484-2006
The information presented in this fact sheet comes from the grant proposal; EPA cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. The cooperative agreement for the grant has not yet been negotiated. Therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.