Training for Sustainability
Groundwork Lawrence and the Merrimack Valley Workforce Investment Board have received an EPA Green Jobs grant for a workforce development program titled Training for Sustainability.
The EPA funded Training for Sustainability program will prepare unemployed and underemployed workers for jobs in the areas of recycling/solid waste handling and disposal, sustainable landscaping, and deconstruction. Local residents will be trained for green jobs in the Merrimack Valley that will protect the health of local families and residents and prepare communities for continued economic growth. The ten week program will include OHSA 10 hour, Hazwopper 40 Hour, Environmental Literacy, and Sustainable Landscaping.
As part of the full 10 week program, GWL is coordinating a three-week Sustainable Landscaping and Brownfield Parkscaping Training Program. Trainees will learn basic skills in soils and plants, sustainable landscaping practices, and have exposure to remediation and restoration projects led by industry experts. The program is to include hands-on training including planting techniques with perennials, shrubs, or trees; pruning and maintenance of existing landscapes; removal and management of invasives; basics of stormwater management including erosion control and LID; and local site visits.
If you are interested in being an instructor, contact Kathryn. If you are interested in participating as a trainee, please contact the Valleyworks Career Center
We will have three training cohorts in 2012-2013: Cycle 1 - April to mid June, Cycle 2 - July- mid September, and Cycle 3 - end March to May 2013. The dates for the Sustainable Landscaping program will be April 23-27, April 30-May 4, and May 7-11.
Program components expected to date:
- Math, measurements and reading plans
- Reading plant and chemical labels, horticultural measurements
- Soils-health, ecology, amendments
- Plant basics and botany basics
- Invasive plant id and management
- Pest id and management
- Stormwater – description, impacts on water bodies and watershed health and an introduction to low-impact-development techniques
- Stormwater-impact of regulations on construction techniques
- Brownfield-introduction to site contaminants and simple remediation techniques
- Industry techniques:lectures and visits by contractors, engineers, and people in the field
- Hands on work
- Hand tool skills
- Power tools skills
- Plant removal-invasives and weeding by hand, tool, and chemical
- Pest id
- Plant and tree handling for planting, care and upkeep
- Soil amendments, rain garden installation
- Stormwater regulation required soil protection and working in wet environments
- Regular career development and skills practice in math and horticultural measurements
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