Florida’s unemployment program receives $61.2 million federal funding
March 10th, 2010 - 11:23 pm ICT by BNO NewsTALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) – The Florida Back to Work initiative will receive its first installment of $61.2 million of funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, Governor Charlie Crist announced on Wednesday.
The $200 million program is managed by the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation (AWI), in partnership with the Florida Department of Children and Families, Workforce Florida Inc., and the Regional Workforce Boards.
“The Florida Back to Work program provides businesses a tremendous opportunity to give someone in need a fresh start and a new direction for the future,” said Governor Crist.
With this funding the Florida Back to work program will start immediately to finalize agreements with businesses to hire and train employees. The state program will use federal dollars to pay up to 95% of the new employee’s salary. The applicants of this program must meet federal low-income guidelines and have a dependent child in the home to be eligible.
To this day, the AWI has received more than 1,100 applications throughout the state. AWI expects that Florida Back to work will create as many as 10,000 direct jobs, and 15,000 indirect jobs. The initiative’s support ends in September, but the state’s goal is that participating businesses will retain the new employees.
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