Bridging the Needs of the 

Community with the Needs of the 

Labor Market 

Jobs for Youth, Boston 

continued �

Many of the towns and cities in the northeastern United States 

developed their economies during the Industrial Age and have an 

industrial heritage to prove it. 

buildings and manufacturing facilities led to the decline of local labor 

forces and an eventual legacy of long-idle properties. 

provided through a Brownfields Job Training grant awarded by EPA, 

Jobs for Youth-Boston is continuing its efforts to help local residents 

develop the technical skills needed to clean up these properties and move 

them back into productive use. 

Since 1998, Jobs for Youth-Boston has used EPA Brownfields funds to 

concentrate its efforts in the Cities of Lynn, Somerville, Chelsea, and 

Boston, Massachusetts, targeting low-income residents for recruitment. 

In the decade prior to the award of the Pilot, Lynn lost 15,000 jobs due to 

a decline in manufacturing, corporate downsizing, and relocation of retail 

establishments. 

much of the population lives in proximity to aging industrial and 

commercial areas. 

New England, it has an industrial history and the associated economic 

and social blights: 

Following EPA's award of Brownfields Assessment Pilots to Lynn, 

Somerville, and Chelsea, studies estimated there were more than 300 

brownfields in the area, identifying a community need for skilled 

environmental professionals. Youth-Boston Job Training 

helped meet this challenge by providing an opportunity to train un- and 

under-employed local residents to create a permanent environmental 

services workforce. 

Through seven training cycles, Jobs for Youth-Boston trained 80 students 

in the program and has achieved a 76 percent employment placement 

rate to date. 

completion of the program. 

Somerville, and Chelsea lives in poverty and 75 percent are minority; the 

environmental job training program targets these residents, including 

youth and adults living near brownfields, particularly those properties 

targeted by Lynn's, Somerville's, and Chelsea's Assessment Pilots. 

training program includes courses about the environmental assessment of 

properties, cleanup methods, environmental mapping, and the use of 

innovative technologies. 

The widespread closure of old mill 

Using the funds 

In Somerville, the state's most densely populated city, 

Although Boston is known as the economic hub of 

poverty, abandoned properties, and pollution. 

The Jobs For 

Moreover, the graduates are tracked for one year following 

Thirty-two percent of the population in Lynn, 

The 

Equally important, the trainees received 

Students learning through the Jobs For 

Youth-Boston Job Training program 

JUST THE FACTS:
 • Following EPA's award of Brownfields 

Assessment Pilots to Lynn, Somerville, 

and Chelsea, studies estimated that there 

were more than 300 brownfields in the area, 

identifying a community need for skilled 

environmental professionals. 

• The Jobs For Youth-Boston Job Training 

Program helped meet this challenge by 

providing an opportunity to train un- and 

under-employed local residents to create a 

permanent environmental services 

workforce. 

• Through seven training cycles, Jobs for 

Youth-Boston trained 80 students in the 

program and has achieved a 76 percent 

employment placement rate to date. 

One job training 

graduate went from struggling 

to find another retail position amid 

widespread downsizing to learning technical 

skills through the job training program, and 

finding a new career as a foreman at a storage 

facility owned by a local environmental services 

company. 

specialize in the cleanup of petroleum spills 

such as waste oil from auto body 

shops and gas stations. 

He now manages staff who 
CONTACTS: 

For more information contact 

U.S. EPA-REGION 1 

(617) 918-1424 

Visit the EPA Brownfields web site at: 

http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/ 

Graduates of the Jobs for Youth-Boston 

Job Training program 

additional support such as classes in remedial math and English, interview 

preparation, workplace skills, and resume writing. 

training and support helps ease graduates into the job market to perform 

environmental lab analysis, conduct field work, and treat contaminated 

properties. 

The training efforts of Jobs For Youth-Boston, including curricula 

development, are supported by a variety of local employers, colleges and 

universities, and other community-based organizations. 

built with local environmental technology firms also strengthens the grantee's 

ability to more directly access information about employment opportunities. 

In turn, this allows better matching of job assignments with graduates' skills. 

In August 2001, EPA awarded $75,000 in supplemental funding to Jobs for 

Youth-Boston and followed that with an additional $50,000 in August 2002. 

before receiving the supplemental funding, over a two-year period the grantee 

leveraged $293,934 from a variety of public and private sources, including the National 

Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay. 

This funding helped the grantee to continue expanding the job training program; increase the enrollment 

base; enrich the curricula to include more innovative technologies, laboratory time, and additional 

certifications; and perform post-placement follow-up with graduates. 

Jobs For Youth-Boston is making a real difference in the quality of life for graduates and in the 

community. 

amid widespread downsizing to learning technical skills through the job training program, and finding a 

new career as a foreman at a storage facility owned by a local environmental 

services company. 

petroleum spills such as waste oil from auto body shops and gas stations; 

they test media, dispose of contaminants, and then ship whatever is left 

over to another location for recycling into heating oil for paper factories 

and other users. 

Graduates of the Job Training program are not only prepared to obtain a 

job, they are poised to become active participants in their local economy. 

"Brownfields can spur the economy," said Robert W. Varney, EPA New 

England Regional Administrator. 

ensuring that there is a trained work force ready to take on the work of 

cleaning up these sites and getting them back into productive use." 

The combination of job-related 

The partnerships 

Even 

One job training graduate, Stan Osinski, went from struggling to find another retail position 

Stan manages staff who specialize in the cleanup of 

"These grants will go a long way to 

Brownfields Success Story Solid Waste EPA 500-F-00-254 

Jobs for Youth-Boston and Emergency March 2004 

Response (5105) www.epa.gov/brownfields/