Thirteen additional counties are now eligible to participate in the temporary employment program that puts North Carolinians to work on recovery efforts in areas affected by Hurricane Florence, N.C. Department of Commerce Secretary Anthony M. Copeland announced today. This brings the total number of counties declared eligible to 41.
The U.S. Department of Labor awarded an $18.5 million Disaster Dislocated Worker Grant to help with Hurricane Florence response in late September. The North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Division of Workforce Solutions requested the grant.
The counties newly declared eligible for this type of assistance by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are: Alleghany, Anson, Ashe, Cabarrus, Chatham, Dare, Granville, Montgomery, Person, Randolph, Stanly, Union and Yancey.
These 13 counties are in addition to counties announced earlier: Beaufort, Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Duplin, Greene, Harnett, Hoke, Hyde, Johnston, Lee, Lenoir, Jones, Moore, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico, Pender, Pitt, Richmond, Robeson, Sampson, Scotland, Wayne and Wilson.
“Workforce development professionals are already hard at work partnering with local community organizations to identify ways to rebuild and address storm damage and put people to work,” said Secretary Copeland. “This federal grant provides additional resources to help North Carolina workers get back on their feet.”
Through the federal grant, residents of eligible counties will work in jobs that support either clean-up and recovery from the storm’s devastation or humanitarian assistance to residents of affected areas. Supported by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, Dislocated Worker Grants fund temporary jobs in response to large, unexpected events that cause significant job losses.
Nonprofits and government agencies will employ participants for up to 12 months. Worksites must generally be on public property or land owned by not-for-profit agencies.
Workers may be eligible for jobs under the grant if they’ve been temporarily or permanently laid off as a consequence of the hurricane, or if they meet certain other criteria.
To apply for the Hurricane Florence temporary employment program, residents should visit their local NCWorks Career Center, which can be found by visiting www.ncworks.gov.