Northern Mariana Islands will receive a supplemental award of $800,000 to support continued pandemic-related, disaster-relief employment, the U.S. Department of Labor reported in a March 14 news release.
The National Dislocated Worker Grant, administered by DOL's Employment and Training Administration in partnership with the Northern Mariana Islands' DOL, is one of 64 grants to address workforce-related impacts by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The award announced today brings the total project funds awarded to $2.3 million," DOL said in the news release. "The commonwealth's Department of Labor will use the funds to continue to support employment for those in humanitarian assistance positions."
In 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued emergency declarations in 2020. The National Dislocated Worker Grant earlier provided an emergency award of $1.5 million in April 2020. Northern Mariana Islands requested the grant under those emergency declarations.
"National Dislocated Worker Grants expand the service capacity of dislocated worker programs at the state and local levels temporarily by providing assistance in response to unexpected economic events that cause significant job losses," the news release said. "The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 supports the grants."
The money will be used "to pay workers to deliver medicine, food and supplies to the elderly or to clean and sanitize public schools and health facilities," U.S. House Rep. Gregorio Sablan, representing the people of the Northern Meriana Islands, said in a March 13 statement.
"The money can also be used for training," Sablan said. "Congratulations to the Workforce Investment Agency!"
