June 21, 2004
The promise of brownfields | The city of Lewiston's industrial past helps it earn an EPA grant to train underemployed workers
By Sara Donnelly
As Lewiston continues to distance itself from its manufacturing heritage, pieces of that once vibrant industry remain in the form of unsightly brownfields, industrial properties that may be contaminated with hazardous waste or other dangerous substances. Extensive redevelopment of the city's brownfields ˆ including the Bates Mill complex and the W.S. Libby mill site ˆ has become a priority for a community looking to attract new investment like hotels and conference centers, office buildings and retail outlets.
Now, a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency will help construction and engineering firms in the region ensure that they have workers on the job who are prepared to handle brownfields' unique challenges. In March, the EPA awarded the city of Lewiston a $200,000 brownfields job training grant to fund a new training program, the Brownfields Initiative for Local Development. In addition to free training in brownfields skills like lead and asbestos abatement and hazardous waste transport, participants in the program, scheduled to begin this fall, will learn basic construction skills such as the use of hand tools, making them attractive new hires for the region's booming construction industry.
According to Bryant Hoffman, executive director of the Central/Western Maine Working Investment Board, construction companies in the region will be one of the most reliable employers for area residents if the current building trend continues. "It looks like it would be one of the better bets for people who lost manufacturing jobs," he says, citing an April 2004 analysis of Lewiston by the Department of Labor that shows hundreds of new construction jobs as a result of projects like the new Shaw's Supermarket and the proposed Wal-Mart distribution center.
Hoffman believes construction and utilities jobs, which typically offer a starting salary above minimum wage, will be some of the most attractive alternatives for people who are currently unemployed or underemployed in the Lewiston area. "If you've tried to call the plumber lately, you know there's a good living to be made," he says.
Lewiston officials agree. They coordinated the city's application for the EPA grant, along with a vast group of partners including Hoffman's group, Central Maine Community College, nonprofits Women Unlimited and Faithworks, and employers like Pittsfield-based Cianbro Corp. and Lewiston-based Deblois Electric. Ultimately, they hope to graduate 75-85 participants, who may receive up to 150 hours of training and seven certifications each.
Deblois Electric is one of several local companies that hopes to hire BILD graduates as electrician's helpers, who are paid entry-level apprenticeship positions. Tony Reny, project manager at Deblois, says BILD graduates are attractive because they'll arrive with training most new employees don't have. "It'll help alleviate the shortage of quality manpower in Lewiston," Reny says of the program.
A need for new faces
Lewiston was one of 16 communities nationwide selected by the EPA to receive this year's round of brownfields job training grants, part of a six-year-old program to fund job training, assessment and cleanup of sites plagued by the presence or potential presence of hazardous waste or pollution. Since 2003, the EPA has awarded more than $75 million brownfields grants to local and state governments and nonprofits throughout the country. The Lewiston BILD grant is the first EPA job training grant awarded in Maine.
The reason? While Lewiston's unemployment rate has remained consistently below state and national averages over the past five years, its manufacturing sector continues to struggle. Over the past two decades, the city watched its once robust manufacturing base weaken from a 7,000-strong workforce in 1979 to an industry employing a little more than 2,000 workers this year.
And while most of the area has managed to gain some ground after the massive manufacturing layoffs in the 1980s, a few small communities in the heart of Lewiston still suffer from below-average employment rates and debilitating poverty. The city hopes to recruit most of its BILD grant trainees from this densely populated area, which is designated as a federal Enterprise Community.
According to 2000 U.S. Census figures, the Lewiston Enterprise Community is comprised of 4,594 people with a median household income of $15,003, about half the city's median household income of $29,191. The Maine Department of Labor reports that Lewiston's unemployment rate in April was four percent, less than the state average of 4.8% and the nationwide average of 5.4%. That continues a positive trend in which Lewiston has reported unemployment rates lower than the state and the nation for the past 60 consecutive months. The downtown neighborhoods that make up the Enterprise Community, however, struggle with an unemployment rate more than double that of the rest of the city, at 8.2%.
"Our prime target for this grant is to make it available for people to have the job training skills or the opportunity to raise their quality of life," says Alyson Stone, the grant coordinator for the BILD project. Stone hopes the BILD grant will help members of the Enterprise Community and other disadvantaged Mainers gain training that will allow them to obtain steady work at a livable wage. "Anybody who has half a mind realizes that minimum wage just doesn't cut it," says Deblois Electric's Reny.
Nationwide, the average hourly wage of brownfields job training graduates is $12.84 ˆ more than double Maine's $6.25 minimum wage. Justification for the high wages comes from the program's comprehensive approach. Its first segment, the core training track, will include training in first aid and CPR, lead and asbestos abatement and use of hand tools. Graduates of the first track may opt for one of two advanced training tracks, either the hazardous waste transport track or the brownfields redevelopment track. Members of the program's steering committee also are considering adding subjects like hazardous materials handling to the advanced tracks.
The program's graduates will enter a market that sorely needs new faces, according to Michael Bennett, regional human resources coordinator for Cianbro's northern New England region. "This gives individuals an opportunity to train for a need the industry has right now," he says. "As people are leaving [Cianbro], there are not enough people to replace them."
Now, a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency will help construction and engineering firms in the region ensure that they have workers on the job who are prepared to handle brownfields' unique challenges. In March, the EPA awarded the city of Lewiston a $200,000 brownfields job training grant to fund a new training program, the Brownfields Initiative for Local Development. In addition to free training in brownfields skills like lead and asbestos abatement and hazardous waste transport, participants in the program, scheduled to begin this fall, will learn basic construction skills such as the use of hand tools, making them attractive new hires for the region's booming construction industry.
According to Bryant Hoffman, executive director of the Central/Western Maine Working Investment Board, construction companies in the region will be one of the most reliable employers for area residents if the current building trend continues. "It looks like it would be one of the better bets for people who lost manufacturing jobs," he says, citing an April 2004 analysis of Lewiston by the Department of Labor that shows hundreds of new construction jobs as a result of projects like the new Shaw's Supermarket and the proposed Wal-Mart distribution center.
Hoffman believes construction and utilities jobs, which typically offer a starting salary above minimum wage, will be some of the most attractive alternatives for people who are currently unemployed or underemployed in the Lewiston area. "If you've tried to call the plumber lately, you know there's a good living to be made," he says.
Lewiston officials agree. They coordinated the city's application for the EPA grant, along with a vast group of partners including Hoffman's group, Central Maine Community College, nonprofits Women Unlimited and Faithworks, and employers like Pittsfield-based Cianbro Corp. and Lewiston-based Deblois Electric. Ultimately, they hope to graduate 75-85 participants, who may receive up to 150 hours of training and seven certifications each.
Deblois Electric is one of several local companies that hopes to hire BILD graduates as electrician's helpers, who are paid entry-level apprenticeship positions. Tony Reny, project manager at Deblois, says BILD graduates are attractive because they'll arrive with training most new employees don't have. "It'll help alleviate the shortage of quality manpower in Lewiston," Reny says of the program.
A need for new faces
Lewiston was one of 16 communities nationwide selected by the EPA to receive this year's round of brownfields job training grants, part of a six-year-old program to fund job training, assessment and cleanup of sites plagued by the presence or potential presence of hazardous waste or pollution. Since 2003, the EPA has awarded more than $75 million brownfields grants to local and state governments and nonprofits throughout the country. The Lewiston BILD grant is the first EPA job training grant awarded in Maine.
The reason? While Lewiston's unemployment rate has remained consistently below state and national averages over the past five years, its manufacturing sector continues to struggle. Over the past two decades, the city watched its once robust manufacturing base weaken from a 7,000-strong workforce in 1979 to an industry employing a little more than 2,000 workers this year.
And while most of the area has managed to gain some ground after the massive manufacturing layoffs in the 1980s, a few small communities in the heart of Lewiston still suffer from below-average employment rates and debilitating poverty. The city hopes to recruit most of its BILD grant trainees from this densely populated area, which is designated as a federal Enterprise Community.
According to 2000 U.S. Census figures, the Lewiston Enterprise Community is comprised of 4,594 people with a median household income of $15,003, about half the city's median household income of $29,191. The Maine Department of Labor reports that Lewiston's unemployment rate in April was four percent, less than the state average of 4.8% and the nationwide average of 5.4%. That continues a positive trend in which Lewiston has reported unemployment rates lower than the state and the nation for the past 60 consecutive months. The downtown neighborhoods that make up the Enterprise Community, however, struggle with an unemployment rate more than double that of the rest of the city, at 8.2%.
"Our prime target for this grant is to make it available for people to have the job training skills or the opportunity to raise their quality of life," says Alyson Stone, the grant coordinator for the BILD project. Stone hopes the BILD grant will help members of the Enterprise Community and other disadvantaged Mainers gain training that will allow them to obtain steady work at a livable wage. "Anybody who has half a mind realizes that minimum wage just doesn't cut it," says Deblois Electric's Reny.
Nationwide, the average hourly wage of brownfields job training graduates is $12.84 ˆ more than double Maine's $6.25 minimum wage. Justification for the high wages comes from the program's comprehensive approach. Its first segment, the core training track, will include training in first aid and CPR, lead and asbestos abatement and use of hand tools. Graduates of the first track may opt for one of two advanced training tracks, either the hazardous waste transport track or the brownfields redevelopment track. Members of the program's steering committee also are considering adding subjects like hazardous materials handling to the advanced tracks.
The program's graduates will enter a market that sorely needs new faces, according to Michael Bennett, regional human resources coordinator for Cianbro's northern New England region. "This gives individuals an opportunity to train for a need the industry has right now," he says. "As people are leaving [Cianbro], there are not enough people to replace them."
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