Reintegration Counselor

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Grant Amount: $15,000,000

Grantees: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia

Challenge: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have displaced hundreds of thousands of individuals from Gulf Coast states and temporarily relocated them across the nation. Many of these Americans are without jobs, separated from family members, and without personal or professional networks to connect them with employment and other services. Many remain in evacuee centers across the country. Most of these individuals need immediate and ongoing assistance from across the spectrum of services, as well as the guidance of experienced professionals providing career and employment direction.

Addressing the Challenge: The goal of this initiative is to enhance the capacity of the nation's One-Stop delivery system to provide intensive career and life counseling directly to individuals displaced due to the hurricanes, either in evacuee centers or in communities with high concentrations of individuals displaced due to the hurricanes. Such one-on-one guidance will expedite a return to the labor force in a person's temporary community or home state, thereby promoting opportunity and economic stability.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has committed $15,000,000 to fund approximately 150 highly skilled reintegration counselors in 12 states (for up to six months.) The funds will be used to secure the counselors and support their service delivery efforts with equipment, space, communications support, and mobility.

The counselors' connection to the One-Stop system in these locations will be critical to ensuring that individuals displaced due to the hurricanes have access to the full array of employment, training, education, and human services available in their communities. Local One-Stop Career Centers receiving one or more reintegration counselors will be given a support package to help expedite the provision of tools and resources that counselors need to do their jobs. The overall goal is to get counselors quickly in place to offer services, as well as support the successful re-employment and reintegration of individuals displaced due to the hurricanes.

Hurricane Recovery Services

Hurricane Recovery Services Fact Sheet

The destruction caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita has suddenly changed the lives of thousands of Gulf Coast residents. Loved ones may have been injured or lost, property destroyed and jobs disrupted. As victims and evacuees begin to rebuild their lives and homes, finding a good job or reestablishing a business is a top priority. The U.S. Department of Labor's Hurricane Recovery Service Web site will provide Reintegration Counselors and other workforce professionals with:

• Resources to ensure that the basic human needs of the affected individuals and individuals displaced by the hurricanes are addressed
• Resources to help those affected by the hurricane get back to work
• Training tools

The Recovery Help resources include information about:

• Loss and grief counseling
• Replacing vital documents
• Unemployment Insurance & Disaster Unemployment Assistance
• Shelter and housing & relocation issues and services
• Health care & food and nutrition
• Social services

The Finding Jobs resources include information about:

• Identifying skills
• Getting prepared for work
• Job search

The Youth resources include information about:

• Finding new schools & child care
• Helping children cope with disaster
• Job Corps opportunities

The Hurricane Recovery Services Web site also contains useful links to:

• State agencies and offices providing social services and employment opportunities
• Emergency assistance telephone help lines
• FEMA and U.S. Department of Labor resources including the Hurricane Recovery Job Connection, a companion site of the Hurricane Recovery Services Web site

Visit the site at: www.servicelocator.org/HurricaneServices

Hurricane Recovery Coach

Some of the most comprehensive and valuable workforce and life management information that you may need are at your fingertips on www.Hurricane-Coach.org!

The Hurricane Recovery Coach is an innovative online tutorial developed by the United States Department of Labor for workers, businesses, and reintegration counselors/workforce staff impacted by the recent hurricanes. The Hurricane Recovery Coach identifies common employment and recovery issues facing evacuees and others who have been affected by the hurricanes and provides step-by-step instructions to help users find resources to related information. The following is a list of topics for each audience group.

Job Seeker

• Search for Jobs
• Find a One-Stop Career Center
• Find Unemployment and other Benefits
• Specialized Services
• Use Career Resource Library
• Career Tools

Business

• Post a Job Opening
• Search Resumes
• Prepare for an Interview
• Find a local One-Stop Career Center near an evacuation center
• Testing and Assessment

Reintegration Counselor/Workforce Staff/Volunteers

• Career and Job Resources
• Social Services
• Serving Different Groups
• Other Resources and Links
• Find Tools to assist Workforce Professionals

One-Stop Career Center and other Resources
If you are looking for job or business related resources, the following resources are available:

• Hurricane Recovery Jobs Connection Site to search for jobs or post job openings.
• Information on One-Stop Career Center locations and hours in the hurricane affected areas.
• Information on One-Stop Career Centers anywhere in the U.S.

The Hurricane Recovery Coach will be updated regularly so plan to visit
www.Hurricane-Coach.org often.