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Recruitment is underway for the 2020 cohort of Earth Conservancy’s Environmental Workforce Training (EWT) Program. The program offers unemployed, underemployed, and dislocated workers in northeastern Pennsylvania an opportunity to study surveying and environmental skills and technologies without the cost of traditional college tuition.
The EWT Program is supported by major grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the PPL Foundation.
According to Dr. Elizabeth Hughes, Director of Communications at Earth Conservancy, this year’s program includes ten classes: Introduction to brownfields, surveying field assistant, basic surveying techniques, GIS for resource conservation, AutoCAD, environmental sampling, HAZWOPER 40, OSHA 10, first aid, and technical writing.
Upon completing the program, participants will earn 23.3 hours of continuing education credit from the Pennsylvania State University and three federally-recognized certificates. They will also receive job placement assistance for one year through Earth Conservancy and local PA CareerLink partners.
There is no tuition cost to the students for the program, a $6,046 value.
Mine-scarred lands in focus
The EWT Program began in 2018, and was developed around the unique challenges of mine-scarred lands and waters in the Wyoming Valley.
Earth Conservancy — which has been working for 25 years to reclaim some of these properties for environmental and economic revitalization — partnered with Penn State Wilkes-Barre to create a curriculum that might help mend those damages through surveying and mapping skills. Additional courses were suggested by an advisory network of local engineering firms, including Barry Isett & Associates, JHA Companies, Geo-Science Engineering & Testing, and SCE Environmental. Overall, the curriculum makes participants attractive entry-level technician hires across the environmental, engineering, and construction sectors.
Currently, 39 individuals have completed the program. Of those who sought work, 85% have found employment and two are continuing their education. The average starting wage is $14 per hour.
Earth Conservancy is looking to enroll 25 students for the 2020 program, which begins on Feb. 3 at the Penn State Wilkes-Barre campus in Lehman. Courses will run through mid-April.
Applicants must be 18 or older, hold a high school diploma or GED, and be a resident of northeastern Pennsylvania (Luzerne, Lackawanna, Schuylkill, Wayne, Pike, Monroe, Carbon, Bradford, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, or Wyoming County). Veterans receive priority consideration.
“Veterans have been some of our best participants,” Hughes noted.
“They’ve been focused and engaged with the material, and awesome at fostering positivity among the class as a whole,” she said.
Upcoming sessions
There are two upcoming information sessions for the public:
• Today, Monday, Dec. 9, at 11 a.m., at PA CareerLink Lackawanna, 135 Franklin Ave., Scranton; and
• Tuesday, Dec. 17, at 1:30 p.m., at PA CareerLink Luzerne County, 32 East Union St., Wilkes-Barre.
Registration for both events is available online at www.pacareerlink.pa.gov, although walk-ins are welcome.
For those unable to attend, information about the EWT Program is available at www.earthconservancy.org or by calling 570-823-3445.
Those interested can also contact their county’s local PA CareerLink office or other program partners, including the Office of Continuing Education at PSU Wilkes-Barre, the Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR), Outreach Center for Community Resources, the Commission on Economic Opportunity, the Veterans Resource Coalition of NEPA, and the Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center.
