$6M for Environmental Workforce Training

Ty Boone

Sep 11

5 min read

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has opened up to $6 million in federal funding for organizations preparing unemployed and underemployed residents for full-time environmental careers.

Through the FY2027 Brownfields Job Training Grant Program, EPA expects to make up to 20 awards of as much as $300,000 each. Projects may last up to three years.

This is a nationwide funding opportunity, but applicants must design their program around one clearly defined local target area affected by brownfields, hazardous waste, blighted properties, or environmental contamination.

Grant Breakdown

FY2027 Brownfields Job Training Grants

The program supports local workforce initiatives that recruit, train, certify, and place residents in environmental jobs connected to the assessment, cleanup, remediation, and redevelopment of contaminated properties.

Funding Agency: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Total Funding Available: $5 million to $6 million

Anticipated Number of Awards: Up to 20

Maximum Award: $300,000

Project Period: Up to three years

Award Type: Cooperative agreement

Match Requirement: No match or cost sharing required

Funding Opportunity Number: EPA-OLEM-OBLR-26-01

Assistance Listing: 66.815

Application Deadline: September 23, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time

Is This a Nationwide Opportunity?

Yes. Eligible organizations across the United States and its territories may apply.

However, that does not mean an applicant can propose a broad national program or serve unrelated communities scattered across several states.

Each application must identify one target area. That area may be:

One or more counties
Tribal lands
Neighboring cities or towns
A district or corridor
A shared planning area
One or more census tracts
A large, contiguous rural area

EPA may also consider a partnership between sister cities located in different states. In general, however, applicants may not combine separate, noncontiguous locations into one proposal.

The workforce program must be built around the environmental conditions, residents, employers, and hiring needs of the selected target area.

Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants include:

States and U.S. territories
Counties, cities, municipalities, towns, townships, parishes, school districts, and other units of local government
Regional councils and groups of local governments
Redevelopment agencies and certain quasi-governmental entities
Government entities created by a state legislature
Federally recognized Tribal governments and eligible intertribal consortia
Certain Alaska Native corporations and the Metlakatla Indian Community
Eligible nonprofit organizations
Qualified community development entities
Qualifying workforce development boards and organized labor unions
Public and nonprofit institutions of higher education, including community colleges

Individuals and for-profit businesses may not apply.

Organizations may apply individually or as part of a Brownfields Job Training Coalition. A coalition must include one eligible lead entity and at least one eligible non-lead member. Coalition partners must be separate legal entities, and the application must include the required commitments or an active coalition agreement.

Each applicant may submit only one application.

Organizations that received an FY2026 EPA Brownfields Job Training Grant are not eligible for this round. Applicants with another open Brownfields Job Training award must also meet EPA’s expenditure requirements before applying.

Who the Program Is Designed to Serve

The program is intended for unemployed and underemployed residents living in or near communities affected by:

Brownfields
Hazardous-waste sites or facilities
Blighted properties
Petroleum contamination
Other environmental hazards

Participants must be at least 18 years old by the time they graduate from the program and become eligible for placement in environmental work. They must also be U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.

Required Training

Every proposed curriculum must include OSHA-compliant 40-hour Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response training, commonly known as HAZWOPER.

All graduates must leave the program with a current 40-hour HAZWOPER certificate. An application that does not include this training will be rejected.

Beyond HAZWOPER, applicants should build their curriculum around a local labor-market assessment and the skills employers actually need.

What the Grant May Support

Eligible environmental training may include:

Brownfields assessment, inventory, sampling, and remediation
Hazardous-waste cleanup and environmental health and safety
Sustainable deconstruction connected to site cleanup or redevelopment
Underground storage-tank removal
Groundwater extraction and site remediation
Confined-space entry
First aid, CPR, and bloodborne-pathogen safety for remediation work
Hazardous materials transportation and qualifying commercial-driver training
Forklift and machine operation connected to hazardous-waste work
Vapor-intrusion testing and mitigation
Site surveying, mapping, blueprint reading, CADD, and GIS
Green-remediation technologies
Stormwater management connected to brownfields cleanup
Green-infrastructure installation and maintenance
Emergency preparedness involving contamination at brownfield sites

Grant funds may also support necessary program costs such as:

Instructors and training staff
Employer engagement and job-placement activities
Participant recruitment and screening
Case management and employment-retention support
Training materials, work gear, licensing fees, and required health exams
Rental of training facilities and minor alterations to existing facilities
Transportation assistance
Reasonable participant stipends
Childcare subsidies
Performance measurement and reporting

Participant support costs and trainee wages may not exceed 40 percent of the award. EPA will view budgets more favorably when at least 60 percent of the funds support activities directly associated with instruction and training.

Administrative costs may not exceed 5 percent of the requested EPA funding, although qualifying financial and performance-reporting expenses are treated separately as programmatic costs.

What the Grant Will Not Fund

This is not a general workforce-development grant.

Funding may not be used primarily for:

General construction training such as carpentry, plumbing, or electrical work for building construction
General job-readiness classes, résumé writing, or interview preparation
GED expenses or remedial math and reading courses
Scholarships for college enrollment
Website development
Business expansion or employee training for an existing company
Natural-resource extraction, oil-refinery, hydraulic-fracturing, or mining training
Equipment-repair training
Actual site assessment or cleanup work, except when conducted as eligible on-the-job training
Construction projects
Grant-application preparation

Applicants receiving other federal environmental job-training funds must explain how the proposed project will complement, rather than duplicate, their existing work.

Employer Partnerships Matter

EPA is not simply paying organizations to deliver classes and hand out certificates.

Competitive applicants must show that their training responds to local employment demand. That includes conducting a labor-market assessment, involving employers in curriculum development, securing hiring commitments, and building a credible process for placing graduates in full-time environmental jobs.

EPA anticipates that funded programs will achieve at least a 70 percent job-placement rate. Applicants must state how many participants they expect to enroll, graduate, certify, and place, along with the wages graduates are expected to earn.

Partnership letters must be submitted with the application. Letters sent separately or after the deadline will not be considered.

Application Requirements

Required materials include:

SF-424 Application for Federal Assistance
SF-424A Budget Information for Non-Construction Programs
EPA Key Contacts Form 5700-54
EPA Form 4700-4 Preaward Compliance Review Report
Three-page application information sheet
Narrative responses of no more than 14 single-spaced pages
Narrative attachments of no more than 20 pages, including the milestone schedule and partnership letters
Threshold-eligibility responses and supporting documentation
Detailed budget and budget narrative
Coalition documentation, when applicable

The application must be submitted through Grants.gov. Applicants need an active SAM.gov registration and Unique Entity Identifier before submitting.

Ty’s Readiness Note

A workforce-development program does not become competitive because an organization adds environmental language to its proposal.

EPA wants to see a functioning workforce pipeline: a defined community, residents who need the training, eligible certifications, employers with real vacancies, participant support, measurable placement goals, and systems capable of tracking graduates after training ends.

Before applying, your organization should be able to answer:

Which local target area will we serve?
What brownfields or environmental conditions affect that area?
Which environmental jobs are currently available or expected locally?
Which employers helped shape our curriculum?
Which employers are prepared to interview or hire graduates?
How will every graduate earn the required HAZWOPER certification?
How will we recruit and retain residents who face barriers to employment?
Can we document enrollment, graduation, certification, job placement, wages, and employment retention?

With the September 23 deadline approaching, this opportunity is best suited for organizations that already have their workforce model, training providers, employer relationships, financial systems, and federal registrations in place.

If those pieces are still being created, use this opportunity as a blueprint for organizational readiness instead of forcing an application your team cannot support.