The U.S. Department of Labor announced on Thursday that it will send $5 million to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) to help the Sunshine State recover from Hurricane Sally.
The Panhandle was hit by Hurricane Sally, a Category 2 storm, back in September. The funds from the Labor Department will help more than a dozen counties in Northwest Florida.
“An initial award of $1,666,667 will create disaster-relief jobs to address debris cleanup and the delivery of humanitarian assistance to those affected by the storm. The project’s recovery efforts will cover all 13 counties included in the associated emergency declaration issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Sept. 15, 2020 are Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Liberty, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton and Washington,” the Labor Department announced.
The funds come from National Dislocated Worker Grants which the federal government created in 2014 to “temporarily expand the service capacity of dislocated worker training and employment programs at the state and local levels by providing funding assistance in response to large, unexpected economic events that cause significant job losses.”
Reach Kevin Derby at kevin.derby@floridadaily.com.
