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USDOL awards NMI $1.8M in disaster recovery funding
The U.S. Department of Labor awarded an additional $1,841,563 for a Disaster Recovery National Dislocated Worker Grant to the CNMI Department of Labor’s Workforce Investment Agency yesterday.
The funds will allow grant participants to continue disaster-relief cleanup efforts resulting from Typhoons Mangkhut and Super Typhoon Yutu, which occurred in September and October 2018, respectively. The funding will also provide employment and training services to eligible grant participants.
“We are very grateful to USDOL for the additional assistance for our workforce, which took a major hit during this recovery, as well as the hard work of our CNMI DOL staff led by…[Labor Secretary] Vicky Benavente,” said Gov. Ralph DLG Torres yesterday. “This recovery has not stopped, as we are still doing debris removal on Tinian and clearing areas for rebuilding of new homes. We need to all come together and work toward restoring our islands by helping those who are also trying to find work or gainful employment during recovery.”
In the aftermath of the typhoons, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued major disaster declarations for each storm that enabled the Commonwealth to request federal assistance for storm recovery. In October 2018, the department approved up to $2,762,345, with $920,782 awarded initially, to assist with cleanup and recovery efforts in three island municipalities included in the declarations: Rota, Saipan, and Tinian. This award brings total funding for this project to the full approved amount.
“We have been working hard to assist our valued workforce and organizations as we are all affected by these typhoons. We will continue to look out for our businesses and employees during this recovery period, and we thank our partners at USDOL for awarding these funds,” said Benavente.
Supported by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014, Dislocated Worker Grants temporarily expand the service capacity of dislocated worker training and employment programs at the state and local levels by providing funding assistance in response to large, unexpected economic events that cause significant job losses. (PR)
