Environmental Career Program - Sustainable Workplace Alliance

Environmental Training and Job Placement

Does working in the environmental field interest you? Are you hoping to make a change into an industry with a real career path that pays well? Can you see yourself working on important projects that keep our environment clean and healthy?

If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, but don’t know how to make it happen, we might have your answer!

Through federal grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Sustainable Workplace Alliance is conducting environmental training and job placement services in Florida and Puerto Rico.

Thanks to the grant funding, the 3.5 week training and job placement program is delivered at no-cost to a limited number of students each year. During this 138 hour training program, you’ll receive six nationally recognized certifications including:

HAZWOPER 40 Hour
OSHA 15 Hour Site Disaster Worker
OSHA 10 Hour in Construction
Water and Soil Sampling
HAZMAT Labeling
Forklift / Powered Industrial Truck
First Aid and CPR

Additionally, you’ll receive training in the following areas:

Introduction to Environmental Justice
Life Skills and Goal Setting
Job Search Strategies and Resume Building
How to Succeed at the Job Interview

These certifications and new skills can help you land that lucrative job in the environmental services industry, but the assistance doesn’t end at graduation. Its our job to help graduates find and start their new career, and you’ll work closely with our Community Outreach Manager to make that happen. Most of our students start interviewing for job during the 3.5 week training cohort and many start their new job shortly after graduation!

Success Stories

Many trainees come to the environmental training program with limited education and work experience, as well as other hardships. But they go on to successful careers, supporting their families and contributing to their neighborhoods, which are often near industrial sites and other environmental hazards.

Here are just a couple examples of star students, who upon graduating, successfully went on to start their careers in the environmental field.

Vincent W.

Devonne A.

How to Get Started

Whether you’re hoping to join our environmental training and job placement as a student or you are an employer hoping to interview and hire our graduates, we’re here to help!

Click on the icon below that best describes your interest:

FOR STUDENTS

TO HIRE GRADUATES

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About the Program

Since 1995, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Environmental Career Worker Training Program (ECWTP) has been preparing disadvantaged, underserved people for jobs involving environmental cleanup, construction, hazardous waste removal, and emergency response. ECWTP, which is part of the Institute’s Worker Training Program (WTP), provides participants with pre-employment education, health and safety instruction, and life skills.

To date, 13,000 workers in more than 25 states have benefited from the program, with a historical job placement rate of 70%. According to a 2015 analysis, the economic value of ECWTP in its first 18 years was $1.79 billion — about $100 million annually. Results also showed that the program increased graduates’ probability of employment by 59%.

Bottom line: This program works and it has for many years.

Community Collaboration

ECWTP grantees collaborate with an extensive network of nonprofits, unions, academic institutions, and employers. Those connections help form advisory boards that provide input about community needs and employment opportunities.