The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry announced Thursday that the state has been awarded a $3 million unemployment compensation “navigator” grant from the federal government.
The grant, according to the department, earmarks funds for community organizations to help minority groups, low-income people, and people with disabilities in the state “navigate” around language, geographic and technology barriers to accessing unemployment benefits and job training. The terms of the grant are flexible but some potential uses include translation services, in-person assistance with computers and help with transportation.
The cash is part of a new $18 million package of competitive awards set to land in seven state treasuries in the coming weeks. The grants will be allotted out of the 2021 American Rescue Plan’s flurry of stimulus funding for state and local governments. Maine, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin will also receive funding under the program.
“This funding and partnership with community-based organizations will bring us closer to true equity in access to Pennsylvania's UC [unemployment compensation] system,” said Gov. Tom Wolf, who announced the receipt of the grant on Thursday in a news release.
The state will open up the grant money for community organizations to apply to receive funds after they arrive in the coming weeks. Over the course of the life of the grant, the state, in coordination with local awardees, will be submitting quarterly progress reports on the use of the money the U.S. Department of Labor.
“What we’re really trying to do here is to help unemployment systems and get people into retraining, into jobs that are available,” U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh said in a phone interview Thursday. “We need to make sure people have the workforce development, the skills and the training to access those jobs.”
The application window for this round of federal funding closed on March 31. Applicants were judged based on stated need, organizational capacity and a summary of how funds would be used. Pennsylvania applied for, and received, the maximum amount — $3 million — that the Department of Labor had on offer.
“Nationwide, especially throughout the pandemic, we saw lots of individuals who were having difficulty understanding all the different programs, trying to get their benefits sorted out,” said Susan Dickinson, the deputy secretary for unemployment compensation at Labor and Industry.
The UI Navigator Grant, Ms. Dickinson said, is meant to provide supports to demystify that process and remove additional barriers that underrepresented groups in the state face.
The grant has a three-year horizon and is set to expire on June 14, 2025. Labor and Industry officials say a timeline for local organizations to apply for a piece of the funding and other details on the program will be released soon.
Zachary Groz: zgroz@post-gazette.com
First Published: June 16, 2022, 9:12 p.m.
