(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Iowa Western Community College will recruit and train people to safely deconstruct buildings and return contaminated areas to spaces people can safely inhabit with a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports the EPA announced in a news release that Iowa Western Community College, based in Council Bluffs, received a $478,474 grant through the Brownfields Job Training Program, which helps organizations prepare and employ people to rehabilitate spaces where the environment is thought or confirmed to have been contaminated.

Matt Mancuso, vice president of business and community education, said in an interview the college will use these funds to recruit and train as many as 96 students over the next four years and help them find work in Council Bluffs, North Omaha and the surrounding area on brownfield sites. “It’s exciting for both Iowa Western and the community to have this type of training,” Mancuso said. The EPA has tasked Iowa Western with recruiting underemployed or unemployed individuals in order to bolster the workforce, Mancuso said, and program participants will receive a stipend. The final year of the five-year grant will be spent following up with graduates to see where they are and if they’re still employed.

Iowa Western Community College has received a grant from the EPA to train people to work on rehabilitation and environmental projects. (Photo courtesy of Iowa Western Community College)

Those going through the four-week training will learn about safe deconstruction of buildings, Mancuso said, as well as procedures for dealing with lead paint and asbestos and OSHA standards. The college developed the curriculum after speaking with Council Bluffs officials to learn what would be most valuable to the community.

Participants can leave the training with up to five federal certifications, and almost 70 will be placed in environmental job positions, according to the release. Mancuso said there are Brownfields sites all over the U.S., including Council Bluffs, but even those who don’t specifically work on a site will have skills that are in high demand.

Mancuso said he hopes the program will be a game-changer for both the students and the organizations and businesses the college serves.

“Today’s announcement is a key step in revitalizing communities and transforming underutilized Midwestern spaces,” said EPA Region 7 Administrator Meg McCollister in the release. “We congratulate the selected organizations and eagerly look forward to working together to develop a skilled workforce in environmental jobs.”