New State Grants to Help Those Unemployed as a Result of COVID-19 Get Jobs

Employment Services of Weld County has received funding through two new state grants to provide employment opportunities to individuals who lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The grants come in response to the economic shock and employment impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought. Employment Services of Weld County is one of the statewide workforce recipients of the newly-created RecoverCO and COResponds grants.

The RecoverCO grant works to provide career, training, and employment services to those seeking jobs who have lost their job through no fault of their own and do not have the skills to compete for current job openings. Services provided may include career services to assess the needs of the individual seeking a job as well as develop an individual employment plan, training services, skill upgrading, work-based learning services, and supportive services to aid job seekers to achieve and hold onto employment (like with work attire, dependent care, transportation assistance and much more).

The $4,995,000 RecoverCO grant expects to serve 600 job seekers across the state. The COResponds grant provides subsidized wages and fringe benefits for temporary jobs that aid the state in recovering from the immediate impact of COVID-19.

This grant creates disaster-relief jobs that help stem the rise of COVID-19 and provide clean-up and humanitarian assistance from actions to save lives to alleviating suffering and maintaining human dignity. Positions include contact tracers, temperature screeners, sanitation workers at schools and homeless shelters, food bank delivery drivers, child care providers for first responders, and much more.

The $4,995,000 COResponds grant expects to serve nearly 332 participants statewide and provide up to $15,000 for wages and benefits per participant. Veterans and eligible spouses are entitled to priority service for this and other programs funded by the Department of Labor.

For more information regarding the RecoverCO and COResponds grants, visit https://www.weldgov.com/departments/human_services/employment_services/adult_employment_and_training_programs.