Training for Sustainability
Green Jobs
The community of Lawrence is beginning to re-imagine itself with a bright green future. The historic mills along the waterfront on the Merrimack are being renovated for sustainability, solar panels are going on roofs, the Spicket River is being cleaned up and restored with new parks and paths, polluted building lots are being cleaned up and community gardens built. Sustainability is becoming the key to the Lawrence’s future.
Groundwork Lawrence, in partnership with the Merrimack Valley Workforce Investment Board, has received a grant from the EPA to provide FREE training to local unemployed or underemployed individuals in the skills required to be a part of this exciting new sustainable future for the city. The training will expose students to the ideas of sustainable development through classroom discussion, site visits to local green initiatives and hands on construction projects that will help to restore the environment of the city of Lawrence. The training is built around a core of four interrelated career tracks and certifications that provide a foundation for increased professionalism and job skills attractive to prospective employers. The training will also help the participants in the program to develop an understanding of what it means to be sustainable and how to integrate sustainability into your work and daily life.
Four Tracks
The Brownfield & Hazardous Materials Handling component includes a two-day training in environmental sampling where students learn how to test soil, water and air for pollutants outside in the field. Presentations and visits to formerly polluted building sites help to develop an understanding of pollution cleanup techniques. Confined space training and the intensive 40 hour training in hazardous materials handling or HAZWOPER is an exciting and fun component of this segment. Students learn how to “suit up” in the latest safety equipment and develop skills to deal safely with hazardous material spills and clean ups and work in challenging environments.
Deconstruction, Salvage and Materials Repurposing trains students to recognize value in building materials and how to dismantle buildings and structures safely while at the same time preserving the value of the materials that they are made of for reuse. This segment of both hands on and in class presentation includes the valuable 10-hour OSHA training in job site safety and a full day training in lead paint safety.
Students that undergo this training are well prepared for careers in many aspects of the construction industry.
The Landscape Construction & Storm Water Management component teaches sustainable landscape techniques through the perspective of protecting our local rivers and streams. This segment will feature extensive hands on field experience building and maintaining rain gardens and other storm water best management practices (BMP) that protect Lawrence’s Spicket and Merrimack River from polluted storm water runoff and flooding. In addition to the hands on component, classroom presentations and discussion will review site-measuring, use of scale, hand drawing, plan reading and the basic math needed for project layout and budgeting. Students will also develop an understanding of native plant material, building material and construction technique.
Recycling and Solid Waste Management is a large industry that covers many fields. From recapturing precious metals from discarded computers to salvaging high grade steel from railroad tracks or collecting curbside waste to power trash to energy plants this field is growing and looking for innovation and employees. In an intensive three-day training with guest speakers and site visits to local companies students gain and understanding of the industry and the many surprising opportunities it presents.
More Information
In addition to the theoretical and practical training note above, valuable industry recognized certification are earned in:
• HAZWOPER (40 hour) Safe hazardous materials handling training.
• OSHA-10 Hour Construction safety training.
• OSHA Confined space entry training.
• R.R.P. Renovation, repair and painting, lead paint safety.
On March 25th, 2013 this FREE 8 week, 30 hour per week intensive training program kicks off its third cycle. Classes run weekdays from 9:00a.m.- 3:30p.m. Participants who register also have access to the Valleyworks Career Center and its workshops in career development and résumé writing as part of the programmatic strategy to improve employment opportunities in the region.
Starting Monday January 23rd. short information sessions will occur weekly at 2:00p.m at Valleyworks Career Center in Lawrence and on Tuesday February 12 and Tuesday March 5th at the Haverhill Valleyworks office. Registration for the spring cycle is limited to twenty people, begins in mid-January and will run until March 18th or the program is filled.
Visit Vallyworks Career Center to register:
In Lawrence:
Valleyworks Career Center
439 South Union Street Bldg. 2, Suite # 106 Lawrence, Ma 01843In Haverhill:
Valleyworks Career Center
192 Merrimack Street Haverhill, Ma 01830
To view the Green Jobs Training flier, please click here!
For additional information contact Lindsey Cotter-Hayes at: (978) 974-0770 ex. 7013
Program Partners
About the Merrimack Valley Workforce Investment Board
The Merrimack Valley Workforce Investment Board serves as the oversight and policy-making body for federally funded employment and training services in the region. The MVWIB provides these services to the following fifteen (15) cities and towns: Amesbury, Andover, Boxford, Georgetown, Groveland, Haverhill, Lawrence, Merrimack, Methuen, Newbury, Newburyport, North Andover, Rowley, Salisbury and West Newbury.
About the Valleyworks Career Center
The ValleyWorks Career Center (VWCC) is a One-Stop career center, providing a wide range of services to job seekers and businesses, youth to adults in the Merrimack Valley. With accessible resources ranging from a Job Corps office to staff from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) all available under one roof the VWCC is the One-Stop for all your career development and employment needs. Whatever your needs, career counseling, labor market information and assistance are available to you to help you meet your short- and long-term employment goals