A Bridgeport nonprofit received $200,000 to help train young people to become professional stewards of the environment.

The Environmental Protection Agency awarded the grant to The Workplace Incorporate, whose mission is to help low-income residents get the training they'll need to land a good job.

The money will be used to help train 55 students from Bridgeport for highly skilled jobs in the field of environmental remediation, which is the specialty of removing contaminants from the environment.

"Since 1998, EPA has awarded a total of 18 of these job training grants to six different organizations across Connecticut, training more than 500 people. The Workplace has received 6 of those 18 grants," says Deb Szaro, of EPA.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal says, "This $200,000 is going to open new job opportunities through the Workplace, Inc.0, but it will also help environmental values and make our lives cleaner and better."

The EPA has given over $1.2 million in funding to the nonprofit. The organization says it has helped hundreds of workplace trainees get high-quality full-time jobs.