In June, the White House  selected the NIEHS Environmental Career Worker Training Program (ECWTP) to participate in the new Justice40 Initiative, a bold effort to promote economic opportunity in underserved communities while advancing environmental justice.

ECWTP trainees in Chicago learn how to install solar panels. (Photo courtesy of OAI, Inc.)

The initiative aims to deliver 40 percent of the benefits of federal investments in climate change, clean energy, clean transportation, affordable housing, water infrastructure, workforce development, and pollution remediation to disadvantaged neighborhoods.

ECWTP is well poised to immediately contribute to that effort.

For nearly three decades, the program has helped unemployed, underemployed, homeless, or formerly incarcerated individuals find good jobs and become productive members of society. They obtain careers in environmental cleanup, construction, hazardous waste removal, and emergency response.

To date, more than 13,500 people have been trained by ECWTP grant recipients, which include community colleges, historically black colleges and universities, and apprenticeship programs, among others. The program has maintained a high job placement rate of 70%. ECWTP is funded through the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations for NIEHS Superfund-Related Activities.

Strengthening families, adding economic value

“I am proud that ECWTP was selected to participate in the new Justice40 Initiative,” said NIEHS Worker Training Program Director Sharon Beard, who helped to launch ECWTP in the 1990s.

“For the last 27 years, our grantees have done an amazing job at providing hands-on worker training and career opportunities in underserved areas,” she said. “These efforts give individuals the skills they need to create a better life for themselves and their families, and this strengthens the communities where participants live and work.”

“ECWTP has truly transformed communities for the better by offering extensive job training,” said Beard, shown here at a 2014 NIEHS Worker Training Program meeting. “That has improved the lives of trainees and their families.”

A 2015 economic impact report showed that between 1995 and 2013, ECWTP generated $1.79 billion in value to communities across the country, or about $100 million each year. Given that the program received $3.5 million in federal funding annually, that kind of return on investment is a significant accomplishment.

Beyond those economic benefits are stories of inspiration.

“I am a bricklayer,” said one ECWTP graduate who joined the program as a single mother. “I make a difference. If it wasn’t for the training at ECWTP and effort put in by all of the training coordinators, I wouldn’t be where I’ve always wanted to be today. I don’t have a job — instead I have a career. I can say I’m certified and experienced to go on a job site and do what I was trained to do. I know safety hazards. Chemicals, slips, trips, falls, confined spaces, oxygen levels, air hazards, how to lay the perfect brick, and how to carry myself as a tradeswoman.”

Learn more about the program and the many underserved communities who have benefited from it by reading this fact sheet.