The California-Arizona Consortium (CAC) consist of universities, community colleges, and a community-based environmental justice organization. They will provide training to 12,000 workers in EPA Region 9. The program will provide a full range of hazardous waste and emergency response (HAZWOPER) courses including a national and 3 CAC train-the-trainer courses. This application involves continued NIEHS support for training by several groups within the CAC. These are as follows: Members--UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program (LOSH); UC Berkeley Labor Occupational Health Program (LOPH); University Extension at Davis (UCDX); and Arizona State University (ASU). Associate Members--UC San Diego Extension (UCSDX); UCLA Extension (UCLAX); Rio Hondo Community College (RHCC); City College of San Francisco (CCSF); and Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice. It should be noted that the latter three Associate Members were not included under previous NIEHS grants. Some of the major objectives of the grant, beyond the specific direct training objectives (12,000 workers over 5 years who need HAZWOPER training), include: (1) training of minority, non-English speaking, limited literacy workers; (2) training of low income individuals and individuals in Environmental Justice organizations; (3) development of new courses beyond those utilized in previous NIEHS grants; (4) conducting various train-the-trainer workshops and conferences (supported by NIEHS, although not specified in RFA); (5) providing outreach programs to labor partners in the region; (6) development of Spanish-language versions of certain courses; and (7) working with community organizations along the Mexican border.
