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CITY OF DURHAM GETS $200,000
FROM EPA TO TRAIN 65 STUDENTS
DURHAM, NC - The Environmental
Protection Agency has allocated $200,000
to the City of Durham to train and place
students as part of the $3.6 million
awarded across the country through the
Environmental Workforce Development
and Job Training program.
The training programs, according
to the EPA, generally assist low-income
individuals in gaining comprehensive
skills and certifications they need to
pursue full-time careers in environmental
fields.
The City of Durham plans to
train 65 students, place 46 graduates in
environmental jobs, and track graduates
for a year. The training will include 216
hours of instruction, and will include
partners such as Durham Technical
RALEIGH, NC – Thirty Shaw University
student leaders met with members of the City
of Raleigh Downtown Plan Advisory Committee
in May to assist the city with creating the
next plan for Downtown Raleigh. Held on
Shaw’s campus, the meeting gave students an
opportunity to voice their opinions about living
downtown. Additionally, they shared ideas for
improving Raleigh and discussed what would
make the city a better place to live as a student.
Scott Cuttler, chair of the Downtown
Plan Advisory Committee, Anne S. Franklin,
co-chair and Grant Miacci, principle urban
designer at the City of Raleigh Urban Design
Center, attended the meeting and gave an
overview of how The Downtown Plan will
be created. Dr. Lloyd Williams, chair of the
Shaw University Computer and Information
Sciences Department, has been serving on
the Downtown Plan Advisory Committee
established by the Raleigh City Council.
The meeting brought together student and
community/city leaders and helped give Shaw
a voice in planning Raleigh’s future.
“Having this event was so important,”
said Dr. Williams. “Shaw has been one of the
hearts of Raleigh’s downtown community
for nearly 150 years. Getting Shaw students
Community College, Durham Workforce
Development Board, Durham Housing
Authority, Durham Career Center, North
Carolina Department of Commerce, and
Durham Economic Resource Center, to
name a few.
“A key aspect of the success of
the program is the partnership between
grantees and the private sector to design
curricula based on local markets with
an eye toward hiring graduates, which is
why there is a 71 percent placement rate,”
says Gina McCarthy, EPA Administrator,
in a release.“We link our investment in
communities with brown fields to enable
residents from lower income communities
that surround many of these sites with
training opportunities.”
directly involved in making the decisions about
how Raleigh will grow is crucial.”
The City of Raleigh has created plans to
guide its growth every ten years for the past
several decades. The last downtown plan,
created ten years ago, became known as The
Livable Streets plan and prompted large city
projects such as the reopening of Fayetteville
Street, the construction of the Convention
Center and the outdoor Red Hat Amphitheater.
The plan was highly successful and has had a
huge positive effect on downtown Raleigh.
The next downtown plan, which is
currently being created, will likely be even
more important. Raleigh is one of the fastest
growing cities in the country and the next
downtown plan will serve as an important
guide for the enormous growth Raleigh will
see over the next ten years.
At the conclusion of the event, the
students noted how much they appreciated
the opportunity to present their ideas and
demonstrate how much they have to contribute
to Raleigh’s bright future. Several Shaw staff
members including Dr. Tashni Dubroy, Ebony
Johnson, Dr. Kim Leathers and Dr. Lloyd
Williams all took active leadership roles in the
planning and