Professor Timothy Sinclair with Quiana Neal, who graduated from the Brownfields/Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Program.
Ashbrook eagerly applied. Not only was she selected to participate in the program, but she advanced quickly, and today, she is program coordinator of the Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Program at the downtown campus of FSCJ.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently announced its latest grants for that program, totaling $3.2 million, to 16 grantees throughout the country. And for the third time, Florida State College at Jacksonville is among the recipients. Ashbrook is involved in the management of the program and teaches some classes. Her responsibilities consist of collecting applications, performing callbacks, screening applications and conducting interviews, job placement, follow-up and tracking.
“Even though I thought I wanted to do more field work … this has turned out to be a good fit,” she says. “It’s a good program that has helped a lot of people, and I’m really happy to do it.”
According to the EPA, the grants support local efforts to recruit, train and place unemployed and underemployed individuals in jobs that address environmental challenges in their communities.
The participants are trained in numerous skill areas, including hazardous waste operations, Superfund site-specific cleanup, electronics recycling, emergency response and disaster site worker certification, clean energy and solar installation, weatherization, native plant revegetation and landscaping, and related operations. There are no educational requirements, although,h in the Florida State program, trainees are encouraged to have a GED or to be in the process of obtaining it.
Rather than filling jobs with contractors from distant cities, grants provide employment opportunities for local residents to participate in the revitalization of their own communities, says EPA spokesperson Enesta Jones.
