More funding announced for temporary jobs, training for Helene recovery
The U.S. Department of Labor has released additional funds to help North Carolinians get back to work in areas affected by Hurricane Helene.
The new funds, totaling $4 million, represent the remaining portion of a $10 million Disaster Recovery Dislocated Worker Grant that the DOL initially awarded to North Carolina in 2024 in the wake of Helene.
The funds were part of an original request from the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Division of Workforce Solutions in October 2024.
DWS will administer the new funding in partnership with five local workforce development boards:
• Foothills WDB (Cleveland, McDowell, Polk and Rutherford counties)
• High Country WDB (Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes and Yancey counties)
• Mountain Area WDB (Buncombe, Henderson, Madison and Transylvania counties)
• Southwestern WDB (Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, and Swain counties) Western Piedmont WDB (Alexander, Burke, Caldwell and Catawba counties).
Through the federal grant, eligible residents are employed in jobs that support either clean-up and recovery from storm damage or humanitarian assistance to people in the affected areas. Supported by the Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act, Dislocated Worker grants like this one fund temporary jobs in response to large, unexpected events that cause significant job losses.
Participants may be employed by nonprofit organizations, state or local government agencies, or private businesses engaged in relevant disaster-recovery work. To date, more than 275 individuals have participated in this program.
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In addition to temporary employment, this grant can support employment and training services that help people find new jobs and pay for workforce training — at community colleges, for example.
Workers may be eligible for the grant if they have been temporarily or permanently laid off as a consequence of the hurricane or if they meet certain other criteria.
To apply for the Hurricane Helene Dislocated Worker Grant program, residents should contact their local NCWorks Career Center. Contact information is available at ncworks.gov.
