Heritage Community Initiatives in Braddock was awarded a $1.4 million grant yesterday that it will use to train 120 people for green jobs: weatherizing homes, storm water management and demolishing buildings so that the materials can be reused.

The money is coming from the U.S. Department of Labor as part of the $100 million that has been allotted through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to train workers for jobs in the green economy over two years.

Heritage Community Initiatives, which was previously Heritage Health Foundation, will be building on the Move It labor training it conducted under a 2008 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Bob Grom, Heritage's CEO, said the job training will be what they are calling "plug and train," meaning that Heritage first will determine what jobs are out there and then train workers for those jobs.

The job training initiatives that are being funded are tailored to the areas in which they are located.

For instance, Montgomery County workers will benefit from part of a $4.6 million grant to the Institute of Career Development, which also will train workers in Indiana, New York and Ohio to work on wind turbines and install solar panels and geothermal systems.

In Braddock, Mon Valley workers will be trained in how to weatherize old homes.

Those trainees, as well as the people trained to demolish building so that materials can be reused, also will be trained and certified in lead abatement and asbestos removal.

Another concentration will be on urban eco-restoration, which is environmental remediation of vacant lots that makes them into so-called rain gardens that hold back storm water through landscape design and the choice of plants used.

"Storm water management is a huge, huge challenge," said Deborah Lange, the executive director of the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research at Carnegie Mellon University.

U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Swissvale) said it's nice to see the grant come through particularly after UPMC announced it was closing its hospital in Braddock.

"This is some good news that the people of Braddock can take advantage of," he said. "I want Pittsburgh and Southwestern Pennsylvania to benefit from this green revolution. "We have the potential in Pennsylvania to become a national leader in green energy technology."

U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said, "These grants are part of a larger Recovery Act initiative - totaling $500 million - to fund workforce development projects promoting economic growth by preparing workers for careers in the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries."

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