Last year in the wake of 5 hurricanes hitting Florida, we got a $75 million National Emergency Grant (NEG) from the US Department of Labor to assist with clean-up, repair, and humanitarian aid to hurricane victims, partially through hiring displaced workers into temporary jobs of 6 months (more with waiver) and paying a total of $18K (per waiver we received) Some NEG workers were hired and assigned to assist with workforce services, debris removal, emergency response, county/municipal public works, outreach/surveying of victims, and a wide array of humanitarian aid, working with FBCOs such as Salvation Army, FIND, Catholic Charities, Red Cross, Legal Aid, Migrant Farmer organizations, REBUILD of NW Florida, etc.

For the most part the NEG temp workers have completed their assignments in most counties and have successfully transitioned to unsubsidized, “permanent” employment in their communities. We do have some NEG funds left and they are primarily committed to the continuing rebuilding/roofing efforts being provided by REBUILD in NW Florida for low-income housing.

Immediately after Katrina hit LA, MS and AL, we asked USDOL for authority to use the unexpended 2004 NEG funds to meet the needs of evacuees from our neighboring states, plus any Floridians that lost work due to Katrina’s initial landfall in Dade county where farm worker jobs were affected. And as we say more evacuees coming into Florida (currently estimated at nearly 20K, with over 6000 evacuee children enrolled in Florida schools), we asked for additional NEG funds and greater flexibility in how the funds can be used. So far we have permission to use current NEG funds to hire those affected by Katrina, but they can only be used for debris clean-up---which is negligible in Florida. We cannot assign them to housing repair or humanitarian assistance. And commendably the Regional Workforce Boards that have unexpended allocations of “old” NEG money have voluntarily agreed to de-obligate those funds if they are needed more in other communities for Katrina response, but at this point reallocation would serve little purpose if debris removal is the only allowable activity.

We at state level (mainly through the Agency for Workforce Innovation, AWI) have persisted in advocacy for flexibility to do repair and humanitarian services, and have asked for more NEG funds, observing that very public awards have been made to AL, MS and LA-----and most notably $75 million to Texas that was not directly affected by Katrina, but is now hosting hundreds of thousands of evacuees. We in Florida are not asking for that much but strongly believe more funds and flexibility are needed in Florida as well. We will keep you posted on any good news from USDOL. And if we get approval, the NEG funds will be passed down to the local areas through our network of Regional Workforce Boards (RWBs). So if you or any FBCOs that you know are currently providing humanitarian services to those affected by Katrina or engaged in rebuilding that would provide housing to evacuees, you will need to let your respective RWBs know of your needs, as many of you did last year.