TX-32 DISASTER – HURRICANE HARVEY – INCREMENTAL FUNDS FOR BOARDS

DISCUSSION PAPER

Background

On August 27, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the Texas coast. In response, the Department of Labor (DOL) awarded $30M in Disaster Dislocated Worker Grant funds to expedite disaster relief services. On September 5, 2017,the Texas Workforce Commission’s (TWC) three-member Commission approved the initial incremental distribution of $16,700,000 to nine (9)Local Workforce Development Boards (Boards) to serve individuals impacted by the destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey.

Issue

Boards have been asked to notify TWC when they identify a need for additional funds. In order to determine if additional funds are warranted, TWC is tracking information on both the amount expended, as well as the amount obligated/committed for Harvey services. These amounts havecontinued to steadily increase as more participants are placed on worksites and employed in temporary jobs.

Board / Initial Award Amount / Expenditures As of 11/30/18 / Percent Expended / Obligations as of 11/30/18 / Total Committed
Dallas / $100,000 / $45,088 / 45.09% / $25,651 / 70.74%
Capital Area / $100,000 / $70 / 0.07% / $0.00 / 0.07%
Rural Capital / $589,000 / $14,514 / 2.46% / $497,000 / 86.84%
Deep East Texas / $1,159,000 / $54,029 / 4.66% / $1,077,985 / 97.67%
Southeast Texas / $1,063,000 / $494,368 / 46.51% / $553,907 / 98.61%
Golden Crescent / $1,349,000 / $43,375 / 3.22% / $6,968 / 3.73%
Alamo* / $176,000 / $0.00 / 0.00% / $0.00 / 0.00%
Coastal Bend / $1,633,000 / $204,384 / 12.52% / $476,117 / 41.67%
Gulf Coast / $10,531,000 / $160,737 / 1.53% / $0.00 / 1.53%
Total / $16,700,000 / $1,016,569 / 6.09% / $2,637,628 / 20.95%

*Please note that Alamo has returned their funds to TWC since they were not seeing an influx of Harvey impacted individuals

**No additional expenditures anticipated from Dallas

Workforce Solutions Southeast is requesting an additional $3,100,000 to support additional DWG allowable services. The Board received $1,063,000 in their initial award; actual expenditures combined with committed funds show that the Board is currently 98.61% committed. The Board is projecting that they full will fully utilize their existing fund by mid-march2018. Additional funds will be used to continue the temporary clean up jobs, provide career services, and to outreach and pay for short-term training for approximately 125 individuals.

Recommendation

Staff seeks the Commission guidance on:

1)Approval of an incremental increase for the Southeast Board in the amount of $1,000,000.

2)Additional incremental funding will be brought to the Commission upon the Board’s demonstration of need.

DP Harvey LWDB Funding (1 11 18) for Commission Action January 16, 2018

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