Nearly $170M in Ready to Work Partnership Grants Awarded
The grants are to help long-term unemployed Americans find work.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced $169,771,960 in grants to help Americans struggling with long-term unemployment find jobs. The grants are part of the Ready to Work Partnership initiative to support and scale innovative collaborations between employers, nonprofit organizations, and federal job training programs to help connect ready-to-work Americans with jobs.
"There's no question that individuals struggling with long-term unemployment are better off than they were 12 months ago, but there are still twice as many of them as there were before the recession. The constant struggle to find work has left many of them feeling discouraged and disregarded," said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. "The federal grants we're awarding today are part of a series of administration initiatives designed to help encourage, empower, and employ this pool of talented individuals."
These grants intend to address the ongoing issue of long-term unemployment. Perez and Jeff Zients, director of the National Economic Council, will meet with chief human resource officers of leading companies, including Citigroup Inc., CVS Caremark Corp., The Boeing Co., and Dow Chemical Co., among others, during a roundtable discussion hosted at the White House on Oct. 15 to discuss improvements these companies have made to increase recruitment of and eliminate barriers to hiring long-term unemployed individuals.