LR to hire 25 flood-cleanup workers
Little Rock has been awarded a $766,000 grant that will allow the city to hire 25 temporary workers to assist with cleanup after flooding on the Arkansas River earlier this summer.
Arkansas’ capital city became eligible to apply for a National Dislocated Worker grant from the U.S. Department of Labor when a disaster declaration was approved for Pulaski County after the Arkansas River crested at its highest level since 1945 in the Little Rock-North Little Rock area, said W.J. Monagle, executive director of the Little Rock Workforce Development Board.
Little Rock’s riverfront and lowland parks were especially hard-hit, as was the Arkansas River Trail, and cleanup is ongoing, according to Mike Garrity, the Little Rock Parks and Recreation Department’s communications coordinator.
Though the grant is designed to facilitate hiring people who lost their jobs because of a natural disaster, Monagle
said people who have been chronically unemployed, such as those experiencing homelessness or re-entering society from prison, are eligible to be hired as well, so city staff and partners focused recruitment efforts on them.
“This one didn’t really displace a lot of people from their employment,” he said.
Monagle said Little Rock has received a dislocated-worker grant once before, after an ice storm in January 2009.
The city held a hiring event Friday at West Central Community Center. Kathleen Walker, the city’s employment services manager, said she hoped to have all 25 temporary workers hired that day.
“It’s like speed dating for hiring,” she said.
Vondrae Hawkins, 39, was among those hoping to be hired. Hawkins said he has struggled with unemployment for the past year as a result of getting “in a lot of trouble” when he was younger, but he said he felt hopeful after receiving some legal help, and on Friday he received a green slip indicating a job offer.
“I’m just keeping my head to the sky,” Hawkins said.
The new temporary employees will work for 24 weeks starting in mid-September, Walker said.
The grant covers the workers’ pay as well as uniforms, work boots and administrative costs. Twenty maintenance workers will be paid up to $11 an hour, and four senior maintenance workers will make up to $14 an hour, Walker said. A supervisor will make $25 an hour.
Walker said workers will take on the additional work that the high waters created for the parks department.
“There’s a lot of undeveloped land on those trails that have a lot of damage from the flood,” she said. “They had to spend their resources on the trails and getting everything up and running for the public.”
Garrity said parks staff have already power-washed all of the affected areas but are still working on some structural damage and cleanup, especially in the William E. “Bill” Clark Presidential Park Wetlands near the Clinton Presidential Center.
Workforce development boards in other areas along the Arkansas River heavily affected by the flooding also received grants, Monagle said. A district that includes Fort Smith and Van Buren received a grant of $1.8 million, as did a southeast Arkansas district that includes Pine Bluff.
A west-central district that includes Faulkner and Pope counties received a $500,000 grant, Monagle said. A central Arkansas district that includes North Little Rock and Jacksonville applied for a $200,000 grant.
Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said in a news release that the damage the city experienced as a result of the flooding was unfortunate, but that he was glad an opportunity was created to connect people with work opportunities.
“Any time we can facilitate employment for our residents is a plus, even if it’s the result of a natural disaster,” Scott said. “Putting people to work is one of our top priorities.”