Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27) announced that Western New York has been chosen to receive a $200,000 Brownfield Job Training grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  

“Through this program dozens of people living in the communities impacted by remains of our older, industrial economy are invited to learn the skills necessary to reinvent these Brownfield sites and at the same time transform themselves through the acquisition of new job skills that will provide opportunities in today’s green economy,”  said Congressman Higgins.

On behalf of the State University of New York at Buffalo, the SUNY Research Foundation will administer the grant.  The EPA program provides funding for environmental cleanup and health and safety training to residents living in Brownfield communities who are seeking new skills and greater earning potential.   Through this grant 44 students will take part in two 11-week cycles during which time they will earn Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response Standard, asbestos abatement and construction safety certification. The students will be recruited from the Buffalo Niagara Falls and Lackawanna and work in the Brownfield areas within those cities.

Since its inception in 1998, 3,300 people trained through this EPA Brownfield  program have been placed in full-time employment in the green jobs/environmental field with an average starting hourly wage of $14.26.