DOL Grants Focus on Populations with the Most Barriers to Reemployment

The Department of Labor responds to the widespread recession-related layoffs across the country with the On-the Job-Training (OJT) National Emergency Grants(NEGs). With $90 million in one-time available funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Employment Training Administration (ETA) awarded grants will require states to identify and target workers from those industry sectors that experienced high rates of job loss during the recession such as construction, manufacturing, and transportation. The ETA seeks proposals that focus on the "hard-to-serve" populations with the greatest barriers to reemployment. The funds will be available for expenditure from the date of award through June 30, 2012.

Upon receiving the award, the ETA requires that states lay out an implementation strategy that addresses the following:

• Creating OJT opportunities in private and private non-profit sectors that provide appropriate skill acquisition opportunities for the participants. 
• Creating partnerships that develop additional recruitment and outreach services to communities most impacted by the current economic recession.
• Providing a credible plan for recruitment of employers in the area to be served to participate in the program. 
• Describing how the project will serve areas of the state that have been disproportionately impacted by the current economic downturn and provide OJT opportunities to those areas with the highest levels of poverty and with the lowest employment to population ratio.
• Focusing on populations with the greatest barriers to reemployment.
• Identifying and developing a skilled and diverse pipeline of workers by using the experience and expertise of Community Based Organizations (CBO) and intermediaries to help in the recruitment of both eligible NEG OJT participants and OJT training opportunities.
• Identifying workers from those industry sectors that experienced high rates of job loss during the recession; such as construction or manufacturing.  

For more information.