US Department of Labor approves up to $10M in initial funding to support disaster recovery jobs, training for North Carolina after Hurricane Helene

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the approval of up to $10 million in initial emergency grant funding to North Carolina to support disaster-relief jobs and training services in 25 counties to help respond to Hurricane Helene.

On Sept. 26, 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm and quickly moved inland, pushing through Georgia and the Carolinas as a tropical storm. The storm brought the worst flooding in a century to North Carolina, resulting in more than 100 deaths and wiping out entire towns with catastrophic mudslides and floodwaters. More than one million customers lost power and over 100,000 customers remained without power more than a week after the storm. 

“The Employment and Training Administration is committed to ensuring workers in North Carolina affected by Hurricane Helene have access to grant funding and assistance,” said Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training José Javier Rodríguez. “This Dislocated Worker Grant provides critical support by providing jobs to affected workers while helping North Carolina in its recovery efforts.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency issued an emergency declaration on Sept. 26, 2024, and a major disaster declaration on Sept. 28, 2024, enabling the state to request federal assistance for recovery efforts in the following 25 counties: Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes and Yancey.

The National Dislocated Worker Grant – supported by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 – allows the North Carolina Department of Commerce, Division of Workforce Solutions to provide people with temporary disaster-relief jobs for cleanup and the delivery of humanitarian assistance to address immediate, basic needs for those displaced by Hurricane Helene. The funding also enables the state to provide training and services to individuals in the affected communities. 

The department’s Employment and Training Administration oversees National Dislocated Worker Grants, which 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 lead to significant job losses.