This project provides funding for OAI, INC

The Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 awarded OAI Inc. a $200,000 cooperative agreement under the Brownfields Job Training Program (CFDA 66.815) from May 2022 through May 2025. The award will fund training for unemployed and underemployed Chicago residents to gain skills and certifications needed for environmental remediation careers, including 40-hour HAZWOPER, general industry safety, and ecological restoration. Specifically, OAI will recruit and screen 400 individuals, provide classroom and hands-on training to 45 participants, and place 40 graduates in environmental jobs. Expected outcomes include trained residents filling positions in assessment and cleanup of contaminated sites, sustainable employment in the environmental field, and reduced community exposures to hazardous substances through improved remediation. No subawards are included in the cooperative agreement.

To recruit, train, and place unemployed and underemployed residents of the city of chicago in environmental careers with skills needed to safely conduct remediation work at solid and hazardous waste-contaminated sites. Residents will also receive training on brownfields/ECO-restoration. Activities:this project will train graduates to earn skills and certifications necessary to enter into environmental careers. Activities to be performed under this project include hazardous material operations and emergency response (HAZWOPER), OSHA general industry safety, first aid/CPR and training in ecological restoration, landscaping and horticulture.subrecipient:no subawards are included in this assistance agreement.outcomes:this project will provide training to residents in the city of chicago. The anticipated deliverables for this project include: four hundred individuals recruited and screened, forty-five trained and certified, and forty placed in environmental careers in communities impacted by solid and hazardous waste sites and facilities. Three classroom style trainings, practical trainings, and curricula modules. Eight certifications, certificates of completion or licenses in environmental sampling and site cleanup methods. Forty-five individuals that receive certifications in OSHA 29 CFR 1910.120 40-hour HAZWOPER training. Expected outcomes from this project include: -help residents of communities take advantage of jobs created by the assessment and cleanup of brownfields and the assessment, cleanup, and management of solid and hazardous waste sites and facilities while addressing environmental justice concerns. -provide training that leads to sustainable employment in the environmental field. -improve community involvement and stimulate the development of constructive partnerships. -reduce exposures to hazardous substances and other contaminants and improve the health of workers, occupants, and residents. -foster self-sufficiency and enhance the skills and availability of labor for environmental remediation in environmental justice and other communities impacted by environmental contamination. -enable residents to participate in the promotion of environmental health and occupational safety, both on the job and in their communities.