$150K grant to train 80 for cleanup jobs

4/2/2004

Toledo will receive $150,000 to train 80 more people for jobs that help redevelop industrial land, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The city is one of 16 communities in 13 states splitting $2.4 million in grant money the agency has designated for jobs at brownfield sites - typically an abandoned parcel in a blue-collar neighborhood where an industry once flourished.

Toledo is one of three Ohio cities receiving such grants.

U.S. EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt said Cleveland will receive $200,000 to train 80 people and that Cincinnati will receive $125,000 to train 120 people.

Programs teach subjects such as lead and asbestos removal, mold cleanup, and environmental sampling.

Preference will be given to students from communities with brownfields.

Wednesday's announcement brought to 82 the number of grants awarded since the job training program began in 1998. Fewer than two-thirds of the 1,800 people who have been trained are holding environmentally related jobs, making an average of $12.84 an hour.