Wilmington’s West End Neighborhood House

PHILADELPHIA (June 10, 2015) -- The E.P.A. today announced that West End Neighborhood House in Wilmington will gain a $192,300 Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Grant to help train low-income residents for environmental jobs.

West End Neighborhood House is a non-profit organization that has been improving lives in an economically and culturally diverse community for in excess of 100 years. West End will use the backing to train up to 50 residents for entry-level environmental jobs helping to clean up abandoned and contaminated properties in Wilmington.

"EPA's job training grants support communities by helping to put people back to work while also creating cleaner, healthier and economically stronger neighborhoods," said E.P.A. Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin. "We're pleased to partner with West End to train Wilmington residents in jobs that are important to revitalizing and sustaining communities."

This is the 1st E.P.A. brownfields training grant awarded to West End. Previously, 2 training grants were awarded to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to train residents in Wilmington's Southbridge and East Wilmington neighborhoods.

Placeholder: DNREC asked if they could provide a quote. They are a partner in the grant and helped write the proposal.

Since 1998, E.P.A. has funded 256 job training grants exceeding $54 million. In excess of 13,900 individuals have completed training, and of those, In excess of 10,000 have secured employment in the environmental field with an average hourly starting wage of $14.18. The development of this green workforce will allow the trainees to develop skills that will make them competitive in the construction and redevelopment fields.

The E.P.A. grant to West End is one of 19 national grants awarded this year. EPA's brownfields plan encourages redevelopment of America's estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites. For more information on environmental workforce development and job training grants, visit: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/job.htm .

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