EPA Selects Landforce, PowerCorpsPHL For $13.9 Million Grant For Wood Reuse Workforce Development At Sites In Pittsburgh, Philadelphia

On September 23, Landforce and PowerCorpsPHL announced they have been selected for a a $13.9 million award to support a Philadelphia-Pittsburgh partnership to create and expand two woody biomass workforce development campuses, strengthen the urban lumber and biochar market, and deploy soil-remediating biochar in both cities.

The initiative is funded by EPA’s Inflation Reduction Act Community Change Grants Program.

Landforce is an environmental employment social enterprise nonprofit organization focused on recruiting and training people who have been systematically excluded from career opportunities. 

Once trained, participants work on land stewardship crews that repair the environment while working on transitioning to employment beyond Landforce. 

PowerCorpsPHL engages un- and under-employed 18- to 30-year-olds in an immersive, paid 4- to 24-month experience that results in connection to living wage jobs in clean energy, green infrastructure, and community-based careers.

“Our crew members transform their lives while restoring our communities,” said Ilyssa Manspeizer, Executive Director of Landforce. “By offering people-centered transitional employment, we’re able to meet people with compassion and a lack of judgment and enable them to enter or reenter their careers from a place of strength, pride, and an increased sense of confidence. These dollars will help us continue to expand our innovative approach to addressing multiple societal challenges while healing the planet.”

Landforce has expanded its work into urban wood reuse, which refers to the milling of trees that have naturally fallen or have been removed due to disease or other human-related reasons and can be turned into lumber for resale. 

"The Biden-Harris Administration has once again delivered on its promise to keep communities and their needs front and center," said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz. "Through the Environmental Justice Community Change Grants program, organizations like Pittsburgh's Landforce and Philadelphia's PowerCorpsPHL can offer real world workforce development while protecting our shared environment."

The influx of federal funding helps leverage generous grants from The Heinz Endowments, Richard King Mellon Foundation, Allegheny Foundation, The US Environmental Protection Agency, and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.  

“These grants enable Landforce to realize our mission and vision fully,” said Ilyssa Manspeizer. “We can now start new conversations and roundtable discussions between workforce development organizations and employers in a way that will be felt for generations.”  

Visit the Landforce and PowerCorpsPHL websites for more information on their programs.

[Posted: September 23, 2024]  PA Environment Digest