US Department of Labor awards $960K to assist clean-up, recovery after northern California’s 2020 wildfires

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced an incremental award of $961,059 to support continued disaster-relief employment and employment and training services in northern California after devastating wildfires in August 2020.

The department’s Employment and Training Administration administers National Dislocated Worker Grants and, in September 2020, awarded an emergency award of up to $6,877,500 with an initial release of $3,438,750.

The incremental award announced today brings the total project funds awarded to $4,399,809. The California Employment Development Department will use the funds to deliver employment and training services and provide disaster recovery employment to individuals in Butte, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Plumas, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Yolo and Yuba counties.

Lightning strikes ignited more than 600 wildfires and burned more than one million acres of land across 20 counties, destroying homes and businesses in the northern California area. The Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a major disaster declaration in August 2020, enabling California to request this funding.

Supported by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014, Dislocated Worker Grants temporarily expand the service capacity of dislocated worker programs at the state and local levels by providing funding assistance in response to large, unexpected economic events that cause significant job losses.