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California Unemployment Grant

January 26th, 2007 Posted by Amelia

For workers in Northern California, relief is spelled W.I.R.E.D. Technically, the program is the Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development initiative, although it is usually referred to by the acronym WIRED. WIRED is a program conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor to improve the economy in troubled regions by training workers.

The WIRED program is a successful program by the U.S. Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration to help struggling regional economies in several states. “Investing in area workforces through this collaborative approach will boost entire regions’ economic vitality,” U. S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao said when announcing a recent California unemployment grant.

The grant includes an initial gift of $500,000 for training in the area. Part of the WIRED effort, the recent program includes a California unemployment grant of up to $5 million to train workers in the Northern California area. After a regional plan is crafted, the region will be given an additional $4.5 million grant under the federal program.

Under this program, the Northern area will use the California unemployment grant to improve the area economy by training employees. The grants are awarded based on a competition involving the state governors. The first group of WIRED grants awarded $195 million to 13 regions. WIRED has proven highly successful in recent years in improving an area’s unemployment. In total, this second round of WIRED grants will exceed $65 million.

The most recent WIRED program of up to $4.5 million dollars is a California unemployment grant to help workers in California’s Northern region. The region has long suffered high unemployment and poor economic performance. WIRED addressed underperforming area economies by training workers. The U. S. Department of Labor recently announced that many California workers are among those to benefit from a grant of up to $65 million.

Secretary of Labor Chao proclaims, “This regional economic development strategy transcends political boundaries to better leverage a region’s assets to help workers succeed in the 21st century worldwide economy.”