Grant Details

Brownfields Job Training (JT) Grants - FY 2025

Agency:	U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
CFDA:	66.815
Federal FON:	EPA-I-OLEM-OBLR-24-02
Office:	Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR)
Multipart Grant:	No

Next Due:	08/15/2024 (Application)
Solicitation Date:	05/17/2024

Match Required:	Recommended
Match Type:	Cash/In-Kind
Actual Funds:	$14,000,000 (Estimated)
Award Range:	$500,000 (Max)
Number of Awards:	20 (Estimated)

Summary:

The purpose of this program is to support the delivery of brownfields job training programs that recruit, train, and retain a local, skilled workforce by prioritizing unemployed and under-employed residents to obtain the skills and credentials needed for pathways into full-time employment in various aspects of hazardous and solid waste management and within the larger environmental field, including sustainable cleanup and reuse, and chemical safety. The program promotes the facilitation of activities related to assessment, cleanup, or preparation of contaminated sites, including brownfields, for reuse, while simultaneously building a local workforce with the skills needed to perform remediation work that is supportive of environmental protection and environmental health and safety.

A critical part of the program is to further environmental justice by ensuring that all residents living in communities historically affected by economic disinvestment, health disparities, and disproportionate and adverse exposures to environmental contamination, including low-income, minority, tribal, and Indigenous communities, have an opportunity to reap the benefits of revitalization and environmental cleanup. Funding will be provided to attract, train, and retain a skilled local workforce by prioritizing unemployed and under-employed residents of communities impacted by a variety of waste facilities, blighted properties, and contaminated sites. All projects must result in a minimum job placement rate of 70 percent.

Supported training will provide graduates with the opportunity to seek and obtain environmental jobs that contractors may otherwise fill from outside the affected community. In addition, the program is intended to support the creation of good-paying jobs with the free and fair choice to join a union and the incorporation of strong labor standards and workforce programs, in particular registered apprenticeships, labor-management partnerships, partnerships with community colleges, local hire agreements, or similar proven workforce training programs.

All projects must offer the 40-hour hazardous waste operations and emergency response (HAZWOPER) training as part of the training curriculum. Refer to pages 10-12 of the NOFA file for information regarding additional eligible trainings. All training must be related to facilitating the inventory of brownfield sites, site assessments, remediation of brownfield sites, community involvement, or site preparation.

Applications that target high-need individuals will be reviewed more favorably. Refer to page 6 of the NOFA file for details.

Eligible uses of funds include:

Personnel costs, including fringe benefits, for instructors to conduct training and other tasks associated with programmatic training
Personnel and data infrastructure costs to support programmatic reporting requirements, performance management, and program evaluation
Costs for recruiting, screening, and placement of individuals in the training program
Personnel costs for caseworkers or other specialists
Costs for training materials and work gear associated with the training curriculum
Development and refinement of existing curricula for training
Personnel costs for employer engagement activities
On-the-job training insurance for trainees
Mentorship associated with on-the-job training, such as peer mentors where an experienced employee is paired with a new trainee
Costs associated with health exams, drug testing, or licensing fees directly related to the training and/or the placement of graduates in environmental work

Refer to pages 9-10 of the NOFA file for additional details regarding eligible uses of funds.

Eligibility Notes:

Eligible applicants are:

General purpose units of local government
Land clearance authorities or other quasi-governmental entities that operate under the supervision and control of, or as an agent of, a general purpose unit of local government
Government entities created by a state legislature
Regional councils or groups of general purpose units of local government
Redevelopment agencies that are chartered or otherwise sanctioned by states
States
Federally recognized Indian tribes, other than those in Alaska
Intertribal consortia
Alaskan Native Regional Corporations, Alaska Native Village Corporations, and the Metlakatla Indian Community
Nonprofit organizations, which may include:
- Workforce investment boards
- Labor unions
- Public and private nonprofit educational institutions

Applicants may, but are not required to, form coalitions to carry out projects. Coalition members may include different departments within the same unit of government, other units of government, and nonprofit organizations. Each coalition must be led by a lead entity. Non-lead entities may not have an open award through this program, and may not be an agency or instrumentality of, or affiliated with, the lead applicant. Applications that include partnerships will be viewed more favorably and will receive additional consideration during the application evaluation process, as detailed on pages 46-47 of the NOFA file. Entities may be members of only one coalition. Refer to pages 7-8 of the NOFA file for additional guidance regarding coalition applications.

Applicants may not propose to serve multiple target areas; however, the funding agency will consider applications that propose to serve large areas, especially in rural communities, that may include a number of towns, as well as applications seeking to serve sister cities.

Applicants may not submit multiple applications. Each entity may be part of only one application, either as a lead applicant or a coalition member.

Applications that target high-need individuals will be reviewed more favorably.

The following are not eligible to apply:

Entities that were issued an award through this program for FY 2024
501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations that engage in lobbying activities as defined in Section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995
For-profit or proprietary training organizations or trade schools

Previous award recipients include:

Kern County Builders Exchange (Kern, CA)
City of Texarkana (Texarkana, TX)
Groundwork Ohio River Valley (Cincinnati, OH)
The Sustainable Workplace Alliance (Lake Wales, FL)
Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes (Concho, OK)

Refer to the Award file for additional information regarding previous award recipients.

Eligible Applicants:

Local Government
Academic Institutions
Consortia
Native American Tribe
Non Profits
State Government
Tribal Organizations/Institutions

Application Notes:

Applications must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on August 15, 2024.

Applications must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.

Applications must include:

SF 424
SF 424A
EPA key contacts form 5700-54
EPA form 4700-4
Grants.gov lobbying form (if applicable)
Negotiated/proposed indirect cost rate agreement (if applicable)
Narrative information sheet (3 pages max)
Narrative (14 pages max)
Narrative attachments (15 pages max):
- Milestone schedule
- Partnership letters identified in the narrative (if applicable)
Additional attachments, as detailed on pages 25-26 of the NOFA file

The narrative and narrative information sheet must be formatted on single-spaced, standard-sized pages using at least 12-point Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri font. Attachments may include only one scanned image per page. Photos and graphics will not be accepted. The narrative information sheet must be submitted on applicant letterhead. The narrative information sheet, narrative, and required attachments should be submitted as a single file, if possible.

The following are required in order to submit an application:

Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number
SAM (System for Award Management) registration

Applicants may obtain a UEI number and verify or renew SAM registration status at www.ecivis.com/sam.

Applications will be evaluated using the following criteria:

Community need (45 points)
Training program description (25 points)
Budget (15 points)
Program structure, anticipated outputs, and outcomes (50 points)
Partnerships (35 points)
Leveraging (5 points)
Programmatic capability (25 points)

Refer to pages 43-50 of the NOFA file for additional details regarding the application evaluation criteria.

Refer to the NOFA file for additional application information.

Match Required:	Recommended
Match Type:	Cash/In-Kind
Actual Funds:	$14,000,000 (Estimated)

Award Range:	$500,000 (Max)
Number of Awards:	20 (Estimated)

Match Notes:

There are no matching requirements for this program; however, the extent to which the applicant leverages additional funds/resources beyond the award funds to support the proposed project activities will be considered during the application evaluation process.

Voluntary cost share will not be accepted by this program.

Funding Notes:

Approximately $14 million is available to support approximately 20 cooperative agreements of up to $500,000 through this program.

Award notifications are expected to be issued by the first calendar quarter in 2025.

The project period will be five years. Training is anticipated to be concluded by the end of the fourth year, and the fifth year of the award will be devoted to the placement of remaining graduates in employment and reporting accomplishments data to the funding agency.

Projects that allocate at least 60 percent of funds to tasks directly associated with instruction/training will be evaluated more favorably.

Applicants are encouraged to set aside appropriate funding to support placement and tracking of graduates.

Total costs of stipends, including participants support costs to hire trainees as W-2 employees, may not exceed 40 percent of the award amount.

Administrative costs, including all indirect costs and direct costs for award administration, are limited to 5 percent of the award amount.

Funds may not be used for:

Training in general construction skills and trades
Training in natural resource extraction or related processes, such as hydraulic fracturing, oil refinery, or mining operations
Conducting actual site assessments or cleanups, except within the context of on-the-job training
Construction or substantial rehabilitation of buildings or other facilities to house training
General or life skills education activities
Scholarship funds to support students’ enrollment in college courses
Foreign travel
Penalties and fines
Application preparation costs
Costs of compliance with any federal law, excluding the cost of compliance with laws applicable to environmental cleanup

Refer to pages 12-14 of the NOFA file for additional information regarding ineligible costs.

For FY 2024, approximately $7 million was distributed via 14 awards through this program. For FY 2023, more than $14 million was distributed via 29 awards. For FY 2022, a total of $3,797,102 was distributed via 19 awards of approximately $200,000 each. Refer to the Award file for details.

Contacts:

Matt Wosje
(202) 566-1060
Wosje.Matthew@epa.gov

Agency Address
Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20460

Contact Notes:

Questions should be directed to Matt Wosje, or to the appropriate regional job training coordinator listed on pages 53-54 of the NOFA file.

Applications must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.

The agency address provided is for reference purposes only.

Files:

NOFA File: US1991_NOFA_FY2025.pdf (674.3 Kb)
Award File: US1991_Award_FY2025.pdf (2.2 Mb)
Other Pre-Award File: US1991_FAQ_FY2025.pdf (1.7 Mb)

File Notes:

The NOFA file contains the full solicitation for this program. The FAQ file contains a list of answers to frequently asked questions regarding this program. The Award file contains information on previous award recipients.

Project:	Environmental Workforce Training Program (1.0 Mb)
Applicant:	Mott Community College
Summary:	The purpose of this program is to facilitate environmental workforce development and job-training programs that recruit, train, and place local, unemployed, and underemployed residents with the skills needed to secure full-time employment in the environmental field, with a focus on solid and hazardous waste remediation, environmental health and safety, and wastewater-related training. Mott Community College requested and received $195,050 to fund the Environmental Workforce Training Program, a project that targets current participants in the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) program located in the City of Flint, Michigan, and the surrounding areas. The project provides technology training and employment in the recovery and development of over 130 acres of brownfield sites in the area.

Grant Keywords

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