The Sewerage and Water Board, Veolia Water, Limitless Vistas and BFA Partner on Water and Wastewater Treatment Job Training

New Orleans, LA (PRWEB) August 22, 2011

Earlier this month at-risk youth from Limitless Vistas (LVI), a job training non-profit, started the second phase of a summer internship program designed to introduce them to real and sustainable entry level job opportunities in the water and wastewater utility sector. This program was designed by LVI and partner BFA Environmental, as a way to help fill the tremendous employment needs in the environmental utility industry as baby boomers enter retirement age.

The effort began over a year ago, recalls Patrick Barnes, founder of LVI and president of BFA, in a meeting with the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans (S&WB). The S&WB through Executive Director Ms. Marcia St. Martin first expressed an interest in assisting LVI by providing training facilities and staff. Their interest quickly expanded into support, culminating in internships for 10 students at Veolia Water North America Operating Services, LLC (Veolia) and S&WB facilities.

Limitless Vistas is an organization that was founded in 2006 to train inner city youth for careers in the environmental and green jobs industry. This program exists for the benefit of our students, not for profit, said program Director Matilda Tennessee. Students are introduced to the technical aspects of environmental work as well as the value of working in their communities, through service learning. LVIs training techniques include classroom and hands on application in the following areas; home weatherization, construction, coastal restoration brownfield site assessment and clean up, and since 2010, water and wastewater treatment operations. This is the only youth program in the New Orleans area that is preparing inner city youth for jobs in the water and wastewater industry. Graduates earn a variety of technical certifications, scholarships and credentials and upon graduation will earn an average starting salary of $ 12.50/hr. Since its inception LVI has provided job training for over 250 at-risk young people in the New Orleans area.

What the Students Feel

Calvina McDowell, an LVI participant who is currently working as an intern at the S&WB, has used LVI scholarship money to attend summer classes at Delgado Community College and plans to apply for an internship at the EPA next summer. The classes we took with Mr. Simon (Geologist and LVI Instructor) helped us be more familiar with the verbiage used in the industry before working at the plants, she said of the classroom portion of the LVI Program. This summers programs started when ten students took a tour of the East Bank water treatment facility operated by Veolia. Subsequently nine were selected for summer internships in the areas of operations, maintenance, wastewater, and administration. The first phase of observational internships at Veolia was completed in mid July and the students are currently working at the Carrolton and Algiers treatment plants rotating through duties which include taking water samples and testing the water for various chemicals used in the water purification process.

I enjoyed working at Veolia, it was very interesting. You dont always think about where the water goes when you flush the toilet and now I know, Ms. McDowell said. Another student, Territa Fleming added, Interning at Veolia and the S&WB has taught me the importance of hard work and perseverance. Seeing first hand the rewards of hard work and perseverance gives me inspiration to keep moving forward toward my goal of obtaining a post-secondary education and having a successful career. When asked what type of work she did, she replied, I mostly shadow the employees, but some of my duties in the laboratory have included observing and recording turbidity readings of influent & effluent water at the Carrolton Water Purification Plant. I have also measured and recorded the pH of the effluent & influent water. I also observed and recorded the loss of head at each filter, the psi for the entire filter gallery and the level of the water in the filter gallery. The experience our students gain from hands-on learning and a real-life work situation is invaluable, added Ms. Tennessee.

Partners Look to the Future

Sam Reynolds, EPA Region 6 Job Training Grant Project Manager and a key LVI sponsor, said he was highly encouraged that S&WB and Veolia Water would take such an active interest in reaching out to the LVI Water and Waste Water program. He added, its critical that industry and other end users of EPA funded programs be at the table and engaged and this partnership accomplishes that.

The S&WB has been in operation since 1899 to handle the unique drainage and water purification needs of the city. The S&WB now treats waste and provides clean water to approximately 497,000 people through two water treatment plants, Algiers and Carrolton, on the East and West banks of the city. The S&WB contracts with Veolia Water to operate the Eastbank and Westbank Wastewater Treatment Plants. Veolia, founded in 1853 and operating in 67 countries, is the leading global operator of water services.

Kevin Servat, the Senior Project Manager at Veolia Water- New Orleans, sees these internships not only as a way to help his community but also ensure the growth of his company, Certified water and wastewater operators are difficult to find. The water and wastewater workforce is getting older and new younger skilled laborers are needed in the field. Veolia is the worlds leader in the water and wastewater field and strives to give back to the communities that we serve and live in. There is no better way to give back than to invest in the education of the citys youth.

Through these internships LVI graduates will build lasting connections with the S&WB and Veolia Water, potentially providing them with long term career choices. We are certain this experience will also serve as a bridge to family sustaining employment opportunities in the environmental industry.

Mr. Barnes is confident that with the help of Veolia Water and S&WB and other municipal, state and federal partners, LVI can expand their program to reach, train and reconnect more youth to opportunities in the environmental industry.

For more information about our partners, you can visit the following websites:

Limitless Vistas, Inc. http://www.limitlessvistas.org

Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans http://www.swbno.org

Veolia Water http://www.veoliawaterna.com

BFA Environmental http://www.bfaenvironmental.com

Environmental Protection Agency http://www.epa.gov/brownfields

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Related Barnes & Press Releases

Quinazoline Program Makes Progress Toward Drug Treatment for Spinal Muscular Atrophy -- Families of SMA 2010 Program Update

Elk Grove Village, IL (PRWEB) June 30, 2010

Late last year, Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (FSMA) announced that it had entered into a groundbreaking exclusive license agreement with Repligen Corporation for the development of a potential treatment for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). FSMA is dedicated to creating a treatment and cure for SMA by funding and advancing comprehensive research and drug discovery programs.

The FSMA funded Quinazoline Program has had several significant milestones - the first ever pre-IND (Investigational New Drug) meeting for SMA with the FDA took place in 2009, and FSMA then obtained Orphan Drug Designation for the drug. In the next step of the process toward finding a viable treatment for SMA, the well-established biopharmaceutical company Repligen Corporation, with extensive experience in clinical development in neurological indications, now takes on responsibility and funding for clinical development of a new SMA drug.

SMA, the leading genetic killer of children under the age of two, is typically marked by the degeneration of muscle movement including the muscles that control crawling, walking, swallowing and breathing. There are no approved therapies for the treatment of SMA to date, which affects one in every 6,000 babies. One in every 40 people carry the gene that causes SMA, indicating approximately 7.5 million carriers in the United States.

Families of SMA has made remarkable progress in defining a series of highly potent compounds which may be clinical candidates for SMA, stated Walter C. Herlihy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Repligen Corporation. We look forward to working with FSMA and their collaborators in the development of what we hope will be an important new treatment for SMA.

Importance of the Quinazoline Program

Through FSMAs leadership, ten years of research has resulted in a drug candidate that is targeted to treat the underlying cause of SMA. The licensed Quinazoline compounds increase the amount of SMN protein made from the back-up gene in SMA called SMN2. In preclinical studies, the drug has been shown to efficiently cross the blood brain barrier - a critical feature for a neurological drug - and prolong survival significantly in two different mouse models of SMA.

Quinazoline Program Update - Repligen Corporation

The clinical candidate identified by FSMA is at a pre-clinical research phase in which detailed studies of safety, pharmacology, and toxicology are being conducted. In parallel, mouse models of SMA disease are being used to document efficacy of the drug and examine what dose and dose schedule might give the best treatment result. These two lines of research will culminate in designing and seeking approval to test the drug first in healthy volunteers and then in patients. Early phase clinical trials will be conducted in adult volunteers and then patients to establish the safety and pharmacology of the drug.

While always difficult to predict progress milestones accurately, the preclinical work and early clinical safety and pharmacology studies in healthy humans will be the focus of the program for the next 1-2 years. If successful in establishing a safe dose which is also thought to be efficacious, future studies can examine the efficacy of the drug treatment in SMA patients, according to James Rusche, PhD, Senior Vice President, Research and Development of Repligen Corporation.

Progress Made

FSMAs first venture into drug discovery began in 2000 as a collaboration with Aurora Biosciences, since acquired by Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The initial goal of the collaboration was to develop screening tools to search for chemical compounds that could increase SMN levels from the SMN2 gene. Several compounds with the capability of doing this were discovered and one of these compound classes called Quinazolines were chemically modified at deCODE Chemistry with full funding by FSMA to optimize and generate drug-like properties. In late 2007 a clinical candidate was selected.

In August of 2009, FSMA received FDA Orphan Drug Designation for Quinazoline495, our clinical candidate in this program, for the treatment of SMA.

FSMA then conducted the first ever SMA pre-IND meeting with the FDA.

In October of 2009, Families of SMA licensed this series of compounds to Repligen Corporation for development as a potential treatment for Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

Under the guidance of drug discovery and development experts, FSMA has made investments of $ 13 million during the last decade to bring this groundbreaking program to the cusp of clinical development.

Importantly, the Quinazoline program also shows that SMA drug discovery is feasible! This has encouraged many others in the government and industry to invest in SMA research.

FSMA Funds Key Drug Discovery Programs

One of FSMAs primary and critical goals is to help build the size of its SMA drug pipeline, which simply means increasing the number of viable SMA candidate therapies in pre-clinical or clinical drug development. To date FSMA has been involved in five such ventures, including the groundbreaking Quinazoline Program.

Traditionally it has been difficult to attract major pharmaceutical companies to conduct research for orphan diseases like SMA, which have small patient populations with small potential for profit. Therefore FSMA has taken the strategy of providing seed funding to encourage biotech and pharmaceutical partners to engage in SMA drug research. The objective is to reduce the risk for industrial partners by simultaneously providing funding, research tools, scientific expertise, and established clinical networks. This strategy effectively lowers the barriers for embarking in SMA drug discovery bringing us closer to discovering new therapies and ultimately, a cure for SMA.

About Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy

FSMA is dedicated to creating a treatment and cure for SMA by: Funding and advancing a comprehensive research program; Supporting SMA families through networking, information and services; Improving care for all SMA patients; Educating health professionals and the public about SMA; Enlisting government support a; Embracing all touched by SMA in a caring community. http://www.curesma.org

About Repligen Corporation

Repligen Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company in Waltham, Massachusetts that focuses on the development of innovative therapeutic drugs for unmet medical needs especially in the field of neurodegenerative disease. Repligen has licensed the compounds developed by FSMA that hold promise as a treatment for SMA.

Contact Information

Families of SMA

925 Busse Road

Elk Grove Village, IL 60007

Phone (800) 886-1762

Fax (847) 367-7623

Email info(at)fsma(dot)org

http://www.curesma.org

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