News Release

Labor Department awards $81M to provide training, support and housing assistance to seasonal farmworkers

Program provides services for nation’s agricultural workers

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of $81 million in grants through the National Farmworker Jobs Program to provide additional employment, training and housing assistance to migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their families. Recipients include 63 organizations in 49 states and Puerto Rico.

Migrant and seasonal farmworkers often experience chronic unemployment and underemployment due to the nature of the agriculture industry. The NFJP is designed to help participants retain and stabilize their current jobs, and acquire new skills and better living arrangements to start careers that provide higher wages and stable, year-round employment.

“The hardworking men and women who tend our farms help power the American economy and feed millions of families across the country and around the world,” U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. “Farmworkers deserve the opportunity to flourish, and these grants will help provide the firm foundation they need to build a better future for their families.”

The department will award NFJP Employment and Training Grants totaling $75,885,000 to 52 organizations in 49 states and Puerto Rico, with the exception of Alaska. The department is also awarding $5,509,657 in NFJP Housing Assistance Grants to 11 organizations in regions needing farmworker housing services.

The NFJP is part of the administration’s ongoing commitment to raise the standards of living for migrant and seasonal farmers, and adheres to the job-driven training principles presented in 2014 by the Vice President’s Ready to Work: Job-Driven Training and American Opportunity report.

For more information on the National Farmworker Jobs Program, visit https://www.doleta.gov/Farmworker/html/NFJP.cf.m.

A list of awarded grantees and locations is available at https://www.doleta.gov/grants/grants_awarded.cfm.

Editor’s note: A list of grant recipients, locations, service areas and award amounts follows this news release.

National Farmworker Jobs Program Employment and Training Grants
Organization	City	State	Service area(s)	Award
Telamon Corp.	Raleigh	N.C.	Alabama	$767,959
Arkansas Human Development Corp.	Little Rock	Ark.	Arkansas	$1,110,208
Portable Practical Educational Preparation, Inc.	Tucson	Ariz.	Arizona	$2,068,038
California Human Development Corp.	Santa Rosa	Calif.	California	$3,601,465
Proteus, Inc.	Visalia	Calif.	California	$3,944,141
Center for Employment Training	San Jose	Calif.	California	$7,799,430
Employers Training Resource Kern County	Bakersfield	Calif.	California	$2,203,209
Central Valley Opportunity Center, Inc.	Winton	Calif.	California	$1,831,770
Rocky Mountain SER/Jobs for Progress, Inc.	Denver	Colo.	Colorado	$969,723
New England Farm Workers’ Council, Inc.	Hartford	Conn.	Connecticut, Rhode Island	$379,273
Florida Department of Education	Tallahassee	Fla.	Florida	$4,020,549
Telamon Corp.	Raleigh	N.C.	Georgia	$1,485,859
Maui Economic Opportunity, Inc.	Wailuku	Hawaii	Hawaii	$320,484
Proteus, Inc.	Des Moines	Iowa	Iowa	$1,141,031
Community Council of Idaho, Inc.	Caldwell	Idaho	Idaho	$1,042,300
Illinois Migrant Council	Chicago	Ill.	Illinois	$1,393,708
Proteus, Inc,	Des Moines	Iowa	Indiana	$895,577
SER Corp. of Kansas	Wichita	Kan.	Kansas	$1,042,405
Kentucky Farmworker Programs Inc.	Bowling Green	Ky.	Kentucky	$1,174,208
Motivation Education and Training, Inc.	New Caney	Texas	Louisiana	$883,219
New England Farm Workers’ Council, Inc.	Springfield	Mass.	Massachusetts	$312,287
Telamon Corp.	Raleigh	N.C.	Maryland, Delaware	$474,620
Eastern Maine Development Corp.	Bangor	Maine	Maine	$284,214
Telamon Corp.	Raleigh	N.C.	Michigan	$1,356,926
Motivation Education and Training, Inc.	New Caney	Texas	Minnesota	$1,196,700
United Migrant Opportunity Services/UMOS, Inc.	Milwaukee	Wis.	Missouri	$956,019
Mississippi Delta Council for Farm Workers Opportunities, Inc.	Clarksdale	Miss.	Mississippi	$1,257,920
Rural Employment Opportunities, Inc.	Helena	Mont.	Montana	$579,189
Telamon Corp.	Raleigh	N.C.	North Carolina	$2,609,522
Motivation Education and Training, Inc.	New Caney	Texas	North Dakota	$589,107
Proteus, Inc.	Des Moines	Iowa	Nebraska	$1,055,272
New England Farm Workers’ Council, Inc.	Manchester	N.H.	New Hampshire	$98,846
Pathstone Corp.	Vineland	N.J.	New Jersey	$675,178
HELP-New Mexico, Inc.	Albuquerque	N.M.	New Mexico	$918,080
Oregon Human Development Corp.	Tigard	Ore.	Nevada	$174,311
PathStone Corp.	Rochester	N.Y.	New York	$1,606,571
PathStone Corp.	Rochester	N.Y.	Ohio	$1,221,776
ORO Development Corp.	Oklahoma City	Okla.	Oklahoma	$1,234,177
Oregon Human Development Corp.	Tigard	Ore.	Oregon	$1,912,247
PathStone Corp.	Harrisburg	Penn.	Pennsylvania	$1,498,136
PathStone Corp.	Rochester	N.Y.	Puerto Rico	$2,965,804
Telamon Corp.	Raleigh	N.C.	South Carolina	$937,644
Black Hills Special Services Cooperative	Sturgis	S.D.	South Dakota	$601,483
Tennessee Opportunity Programs, Inc.	Smyrna	Tenn.	Tennessee	$831,470
Motivation Education and Training, Inc.	New Caney	Texas	Texas	$6,471,095
Private Industry Council, Inc., dba Futures Through Training	Ogden	Utah	Utah	$280,460
Telamon Corp.	Raleigh	N.C.	Virginia	$899,738
PathStone Corp.	Rochester	N.Y.	Vermont	$185,024
Opportunities Industrialization Center of Washington	Yakima	Wash.	Washington	$2,996,573
United Migrant Opportunity Services/UMOS, Inc.	Milwaukee	Wis.	Wisconsin	$1,212,803
Telamon Corp.	Raleigh	N.C.	West Virginia	$190,396
Motivation Education and Training, Inc.	New Caney	Texas	Wyoming	$226,856
Total				$75,885,000

National Farmworker Jobs Program Housing Assistance Grants
Organization	State	Service area(s)	Award
Community Resources and Housing Development Corp.	Colorado	Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico and Texas	$709,576
Florida Non-Profit Housing, Inc.	Florida	Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Mississippi and Virginia	$710,914
La Cooperativa Campesina de California	California	California	$800,000
Motivation, Education and Training, Inc.	Texas	Texas, Louisiana	$590,266
Office of Rural and Farmworker Housing	Washington	Washington and Oregon	$274,770
Ohio Department of Job and Family Services	Ohio	Ohio	$250,000
Pathstone Corp.	New York	New York, Vermont, New Jersey, Maine, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Puerto Rico	$952,202
PPEP Microbusiness and Housing Development Corp.	Ariz.	Arizona	$445,321
Rural Community Assistance Corp.	California	Hawaii and California	$198,380
Tennessee Opportunity Programs, Inc.	Tennessee	Tennessee	$105,000
United Migrant Opportunity Services/UMOS, Inc.	Wisconsin	Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wisconsin	$473,228
Total			$5,509,657

Agency

Employment and Training Administration

Date

July 7, 2016

Release Number

16-1447-NAT