Lowell is a community experiencing serious environmental threats. As the first industrial city in the U.S., Lowell has a long history of industrial contamination that has resulted in large areas of chemical contamination. A superfund site and 319 suspected brownfield sites are located within this densely populated city.
In 1998 the University of Massachusetts Lowell developed a partnership with community-based organizations and the Laborers-AGC Education and Training Fund to provide environmental education to low income minority residents of Lowell to enable them to participate in the assessment and clean-up of brownfields in the city. The program provides dual educational tracks. Participants can be trained to remediate hazardous waste, lead or asbestos contamination or to perform sampling and assessment at these sites. The first year of the program was enormously successful, with 14 of15 program graduates obtaining jobs in the environmental field, earning up to $22 per hour plus benefits. Graduates included Cambodians, Puerto Ricans, and West Africans - reflecting the minority population of the city. The program is now in its second year. The following speakers will discuss aspects of this Lowell-based program.
Learning Objectives: During this session, authors will: Discuss the process of building viable partnerships between the University and local community-based organizations around brownfields issues and job development programs. Explain how the University of Lowell was conscious of building true partnerships with the community groups involved. Discuss the environmental problems facing Lowell. Describe the City of Lowell's plans for rehabilitating abandoned site. Explain relationship between EPA and City of Lowell's Brownfields Showcase Community Program Discuss the process of screening prospective program participants and linking them to environmental jobs at brownfields sites in the Lowell area. Prioritize the increased role program graduates are playing in their community around environmental and other issues. Outcomes: This project has led to greater university involvement with local environmental issues, a stronger voice for the Community-based organizations with which it works, and a greater concern by the city in dealing with environmental issues relating to Brownfields redevelopment
Keywords: Training, Community Collaboration
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.