R.I. receives $445,735 in federal funds to improve UI program

ON MONDAY, THE R.I. Department of Labor and Training was awarded $445,735 in federal funding to improve its state unemployment insurance program, as well as funding to participate in a $4.5 million three-state consortium.
ON MONDAY, THE R.I. Department of Labor and Training was awarded $445,735 in federal funding to improve its state unemployment insurance program, as well as funding to participate in a $4.5 million three-state consortium.

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s Department of Labor and Training has been awarded $445,735 in federal funding to improve its state unemployment insurance program, as well as funding to participate in a $4.5 million three-state consortium, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Monday.
The federal agency awarded a total of $87 million to 46 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to improve the integrity and activities of their unemployment insurance systems.
“These grants will allow state agencies to upgrade and enhance their unemployment insurance programs by adopting new technologies, ensuring payments are given to those eligible to receive them and incorporating programs to ensure recipients of unemployment insurance are given the resources they need to find a new job quickly,” U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez said.
In order to qualify for the half a million dollars in funding, Rhode Island and the other states had to be implementing or committing to implement a variety of programs, including use of the State Information Data Exchange System and an enhanced National Directory of New Hire cross-match strategy, Perez said.
Rhode Island will participate in a consortium project with Mississippi, designated the lead state, and Maine, receiving a total of $4.5 million in federal funds. As a group, the three states have committed to implementing “the full range of required integrity activities,” which would enable them to qualify for funding to modernize information technology, Perez said.
Rhode Island was not one of the eight states to receive funding to implement or expand reemployment and eligibility assessment programs.

No posts to display