Governor Cooper Announces Federal Employment and Training Grant for North Carolina Commerce Department to Support Helene Economic Recovery

Today, Governor Roy Cooper announced that North Carolina has received approval from the United States Department of Labor for an initial grant of $10 million to provide jobs and training services in areas that were severely impacted by Hurricane Helene.

“The impacts from Hurricane Helene have been catastrophic for Western North Carolina, causing immense damage to many communities and hurting our state’s economy as well,” said Governor Cooper. “As we continue our unprecedented response effort to surge resources into affected areas, this grant from our federal partners will help provide critical jobs and training services to folks who need them. We’re grateful for the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to helping our state rebuild and recover from this storm.”

The North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Division of Workforce Solutions (DWS) requested the funds. Approximately $2 million will be made available immediately, and the remainder will be distributed as needed to support workforce development efforts in the months to come. DWS is eligible to apply for funding beyond the initial $10 million as needed for additional support.

“We look forward to using these resources to support disaster relief and recovery by connecting people who need work with organizations that need workers,” said N.C. Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders. “The challenges facing the communities of western North Carolina are immense, but our people are resilient, and together, we will rebuild.”

The 25 counties included in this Disaster Recovery Dislocated Worker Grant are: Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes and Yancey counties. These counties were declared eligible for certain types of assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Pending federal approval, the area of the grant will expand to include Mecklenburg and Swain counties, which were recently added to the major disaster declaration by federal authorities.

Through the two-year grant, eligible residents of those counties will be employed in jobs that support either clean-up and recovery from the storm’s devastation or humanitarian assistance to residents of 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 in the grant would be employed for up to 12 months. They may potentially work for nonprofit organizations, state or local government agencies, or private businesses engaged in relevant disaster-recovery work.

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 by being temporarily or permanently laid off as a consequence of the hurricane, or by meeting certain other criteria.

In partnership with various local workforce development boards, DWS has administered several different grants of this type in recent years. The most recent national dislocated worker grant for a storm in North Carolina was approved in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in 2018.

To apply for the Hurricane Helene dislocated worker grant program, residents should contact their local NCWorks Career Center. Contact information is available at www.ncworks.gov.

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This project is 100 percent funded by a Dislocated Worker Grant (DWG) from the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor, as part of an initial award to North Carolina totaling $10 million.