US Department of Labor announces $800K award to provide humanitarian assistance workers in Northern Mariana Islands

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a supplemental award of $800,000 in funds to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands’ Department of Labor – Workforce Investment Agency Division to support continued pandemic-related, disaster-relief employment.

Administered by the department’s Employment and Training Administration, this National Dislocated Worker Grant provided an emergency award of $1.5 million in April 2020. The award announced today brings the total project funds awarded to $2.3 million. The commonwealth’s Department of Labor will use the funds to continue to support employment for those in humanitarian assistance positions.

The grant is one of 64 grants the department has made to help address the workforce-related impacts of the coronavirus public health emergency. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act provided $345 million for Dislocated Worker Grants to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2020, emergency declarations issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency enabled the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to request this funding.  

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 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 supports the grants.