Labor Department Awards US$2M to Support Texas Cleanup

The U.S. Department of Labor awarded more than US$2 million in initial emergency dislocated worker grant funding to Texas to support cleanup and recovery activities in 26 counties. The funding comes after a series of severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, and flooding that began April 26 and caused catastrophic flooding and destruction.

On May 17, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a major disaster declaration allowing the state to request federal assistance for recovery efforts in Austin, Bell, Caldwell, Coryell, Grimes, Hamilton, Harris, Houston, Jasper, Lampasas, Lee, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Mills, Montgomery, Newton, Polk, Robertson, San Jacinto, San Saba, Trinity, Tyler, Walker, Waller, and Washington counties.

Administered by the department’s Employment and Training Administration, the National Dislocated Worker Grant of up to $6,186,272 allows the Texas Workforce Commission to provide people with temporary cleanup and recovery jobs. The grant will also enable the state to provide those in the affected communities with training and services.

Dislocated Worker Grants are supported by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 to expand the service capacity of dislocated worker programs at the state and local levels by providing funding assistance in response to large, unexpected economic events that lead to significant job losses.