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Springfield Awarded Grants for Economic and Workforce Development

 

Grants announced this week will provide jobs in the environmental field and clean up contaminated areas in Springfield. 

 

 

At a news conference Wednesday, Olivia Hough, Springfield’s Brownfields coordinator, announced the Environmental Protection Agency has awarded a three-year grant to the city to assess brownfields.

 

 

According to Hough, brownfields are potentially contaminated properties that must be assessed and remediated before they can be developed.

 

 

 

The 2018 grant totals $300,000 and will be used for 30 environmental assessments and 10 cleanup plans.

 

 

 

“This grant will be the key to revitalizing Springfield’s most complicated properties,” Hough said.

 

 

 

Mary Ann Rojas, Springfield’s director of workforce development, said the EPA also awarded the city a three-year $200,000 grant for the Missouri Job Center to continue the Green for Green program.

 

 

 

The program recruits, trains and places individuals in full-time, sustainable, green jobs in a range of environmental fields.

 

 

 

Recruitment for qualified applicants will begin this fall for 2019 classes.  City officials say, while priority is given to Zone 1 residents, it’s not a requirement to live in Zone 1 to participate in the program.

 

 

At the same news conference, Mayor Ken McClure and Councilwoman Phyllis Ferguson spoke words of praise for continued growth and redevelopment in the Kearney Street Corridor.

 

 

 

“Thank you all for believing in the north side and for your work to make it a better place for all of us over here,” Furgeson said.

 

 

 

Ferguson announced that a developer in the area has sold a piece of property to a major national chain. She did not specify what chain it was.

 

 

 

For more information about the Green for Greene initiative, visit www.springfieldmo.gov/3427/Green-for-Greene.com.