Supporting NIEHS Environmental Career Worker Training Program
The ask: The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Environmental Career Worker Training Program, funds organizations — called grantees — that train people from disadvantaged communities for jobs in Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER). Since its inception in 1995, the program has relied on MDB for help fulfilling its unique mission.
The solution: MDB has been integral to the Environmental Career Worker Training Program’s evolution, assisting grantees with training sessions, writing grantee success stories, and supporting special projects. Our history of supporting ECWTP and grantees, combined with our knowledge of health disparities and environmental justice issues, enables us to develop materials that capture the individual- and community-level impacts of the program.
As needed and appropriate, we take on special projects to support ECWTP. For example, in 2014, we collaborated with economists at Holy Cross University to conduct an economic impact review of the program. Together, we published the Environmental Career Worker Training Program Economic Impact Report, which summarizes the program’s many achievements, such as its positive influence on worker earnings and revenue, and its role in reducing costs related to workplace injury.
For the program’s 25th anniversary in 2020, we worked with NIEHS staff and grantees to develop a new webpage and logo to publicize the occasion and expand program outreach. We also created a new fact sheet and infographic describing key aspects of the program.
Notable outcomes: The Environmental Career Worker Training Program was selected as a pilot program for the Biden administration’s Justice40 initiative. For its part, MDB continues to work with the program to promote training and sustainable careers, build stakeholder engagement, and advance environmental justice.
