BATON ROUGE- Gov. John Bel Edwards announced that the state was awarded a $1,699,317 million disaster assistance grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.

The grant will help provide temporary jobs in the Louisiana parishes devastated by the recent storms and flooding.

The Disaster Dislocated Worker Grant Funding (DDWG) awarded to the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) will provide 161 temporary jobs for clean-up and recovery efforts.

The temporary jobs have been created, in accordance with federal rules governing the program, to assist with public property debris removal and clean-up activities in the affected parishes. The grant runs through March 12, 2017.  

 Gov. Edwards said that he is grateful for the grant and it will help families to recover and restore their communities.

“This is welcome news for our people,” said Governor John Bel Edwards. “We have weathered many storms and come back stronger each time. This is no exception,” Edwards said.

LWC executive director Ava Dejoie said the grant award is a “win-win.”

"Our citizens and communities devastated by the recent flooding can now start to heal with cleaner environments as dislocated workers gain access to jobs,” Dejoie said.

The award amounts for the affected parishes are below:

Washington, Tangipahoa, Livingston, St. Helena, Ascension
$348,554

Winn, Catahoula, Grant, LaSalle
$372,372

Bossier, Webster, Claiborne Bienville, Natchitoches, DeSoto, Caddo, Red River, Sabine, Lincoln
$17,523

Ouachita
$799,653

Union, Morehouse, West Carroll, East Carroll, Richland, Madison, Caldwell, Franklin, Jackson
$87,331

Total Allocation to LWDAs
$1,625,434

Admin to State (5%)
$73,883

Total Grant Amount
$1,699,317