In 2005, EMS began working with EPA's Office of Solid Waste & Emergency Response (OSWER) to develop a national Corrective Action curriculum and make it broadly accessible. To establish a foundation for this project, EMS conducted a series of needs assessment focus groups to identify the knowledge and skills good Corrective Action project managers require. Focus group participants included Corrective Action program supervisors, Corrective Action project managers, and enforcement personnel from EPA and authorized states. Based on the needs assessment, EMS developed a list of topic areas to be included in the national curriculum, conducted an extensive search using the Internet and contacts in EPA headquarters and the regions, and developed a database of nearly 200 existing Corrective Action training courses and other materials that have been developed and offered at the national, regional, and state levels over the last five years. EMS worked with OSW to convene a working group of Corrective Action program supervisors, Corrective Action project managers, and enforcement personnel from EPA and authorized states. EMS facilitated small team sessions over several months in which these working group members reviewed and evaluated the existing materials, agreed upon which materials should be included in the new curriculum.
Currently available, The National RCRA Corrective Action Training Curriculum, is EMS's design for the first product from this long-term effort —a series of web pages that resides on the EPA Internet site.
EMS's team of experts prepared EPA's new useful guide to make the case for siting advanced manufacturing facilities on brownfields by showcasing examples from three communities that are revitalizing brownfields for new manufacturing.
EMS and its team developed this guide to assist communities in finding and attracting sufficient funding for brownfields redevelopment projects.
EMS developed a new Brownfields Stakeholder Forum Kit for EPA's Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization to help communities design, plan and conduct forums that bring together groups of stakeholders to focus on a brownfields project.