Susan Pareigis announced today that the Agency for Workforce
Innovation (AWI) and its partners are committing resources to assist
Hurricane Katrina victims through the cooperation of local, state and
federal agencies. Among the services being provided are assistance in filing unemployment compensation claims, general workforce services and
referrals to humanitarian and health service agencies.

“All Floridians remember the assistance given to us last year by our
Gulf coastal neighbors, and we are combining all of our resources to assist
Hurricane Katrina victims,” said Governor Jeb Bush. “Victims of this
storm are finding themselves in need of all types of assistance, including
unemployment assistance so they can provide for their families and our
state stands ready to assist them in this critical phase.”

Current assistance includes:

Unemployment Compensation assistance
Florida has an ongoing agreement with other states for mutual acceptance
of Unemployment Compensation claims filing, reaffirmed with the labor
department officials from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Through
the Employ Florida network of One-Stop Career Centers, Regional Workforce
Boards are currently assisting evacuees in filing claims for unemployment
compensation. Evacuees can locate the nearest One-Stop Career Center by calling toll-free (866) FLA-2345.

Alabama residents should use their state’s telephone filing system by
calling toll-free 866-234-5382 to file a claim.

Louisiana and Mississippi residents may call the Florida filing system
toll-free (800) 204-2418 from any county in Florida or locally call — Leon County (850) 921-7400, Orange County (407) 228-1501, Dade/Broward County (954) 625-3000.

Louisiana also accepts Internet claims at www.laworks.net

“We are doing everything in our power to immediately provide relief for
our neighboring states who have been so devastated by Hurricane Katrina,”
said Susan Pareigis, Director of the Agency for Workforce Innovation.
“Florida’s workforce partners are pulling out all the stops to provide direct
services to evacuees from Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana and we will soon move assets into the affected region to further assist our neighbors.”

Other workforce services
Assistance is being provided in the Regional Workforce Board’s One-Stop
Career Centers. Evacuees can use the computer resource rooms in the
Centers to file unemployment compensation claims and access a variety of other services. Displaced workers can apply for assistance to be provided
from federal agencies and from their home states, look for temporary work
here in Florida, prepare/update resumes, and access other needed
services/information provided on the Internet. The One-Stop Centers can
also refer evacuees to Red Cross and FEMA resources. Evacuees can locate
the nearest One-Stop Career Center by calling toll-free (866) FLA-2345.

Assistance to be deployed to affected areas
AWI and the Regional Workforce Boards are communicating with officials
in the affected states to determine how best we can deploy resources to
help in communities impacted by Hurricane Katrina. Mobile One-Stop Centers are being readied for transit to Mississippi to provide self-contained
workforce services to hurricane victims. The Mobile One-Stop Centers are
self-contained vehicles that provide critical services in locations where
regular services do not yet exist. Florida’s Regional Workforce Boards
who also own similar vehicles have generously offered their availability.
Through a satellite uplink that connects the onboard workstations to the
agency mainframe, individuals will be able to file claims for unemployment
compensation and access other needed services/information provided on
the Internet.

Workforce Hurricane Services

- Human services assistance

AWI and its workforce partners are working closely with the Florida
Department of Children and Families to link families with their services
at One Stop locations and elsewhere.

- Office of Early Learning

The Office of Early Learning is exploring ways to provide school readiness
and Voluntary Prekindergarten services to children from the affected
areas.

- Research Assistance

AWI’s Labor Market Statistics unit is assisting our sister states in
assessing the business and employment impacts of Hurricane Katrina. This
data will provide valuable planning and recovery assessments by
detailing the businesses and employees impacted in the path of the storm.

Additional helpful information and resources can be found on AWI’s
disaster recovery internet site.

The Agency for Workforce Innovation is the lead state workforce agency
and directly administers the state’s Labor Market Statistics program,
Unemployment Compensation, Early Learning and various workforce
development programs.