June 28, 2013

GOV. MALLOY: FEDERAL GRANT BEING USED TO REPAIR STORM SANDY DAMAGE AT ROCKY NECK STATE PARK IN EAST LYME

Local Job Seekers Will be Hired to Work on Repair Project

(HARTFORD, CT) - Governor Dannel P. Malloy today announced that a portion of a federal grant the State of Connecticut received to help with Storm Sandy clean-up will be used to hire local workers to replace the boardwalk at Rocky Neck State Park in East Lyme, which was swept out to sea by the ravaging storm last year. The project, which begins in July, is a partnership among state, regional and federal agencies, and is anticipated to be completed by October.

"This partnership helps meet a significant local need in eastern Connecticut," Governor Malloy said. "We are repairing a shoreline boardwalk in one of our most treasured parks and we are providing jobs to unemployed young workers who will receive important on-the-job summer work experience and job readiness skills that will help lead to long-term employment prospects."

Approximately $132,000 will be used to hire more than a dozen out-of-work adults, ages 18 and older, for the project through an Eastern Connecticut Conservation Corps. The funds are part of a $1.8 million National Emergency Grant awarded last November by the U.S. Department of Labor after Storm Sandy ripped through the state, causing devastating damage to many beach communities.

In addition to learning skills while reconstructing the boardwalk, the Connecticut Department of Labor (CTDOL) will work with participants on job preparation services, such as résumé writing, job-related interpersonal skills, and online job-search strategies. Some will earn industry-recognized certificates in First Aid, CPR and OSHA 10.

"While Connecticut is starting to make significant employment gains, we must always look for innovative ways to help our youngest workers gain invaluable work experience," Labor Commissioner Sharon M. Palmer said. "This creative regional partnership is helping to restore an important vacation destination and also provide our future workforce with valuable job opportunities."

Based on Franklin D. Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps, which put thousands of Americans back to work repairing the nation's parks and infrastructure in the 1930s, the Rocky Neck State Park boardwalk project was developed through a partnership with the Connecticut Department of Labor, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board, and EASTCONN.

"This partnership is a win-win for the state parks system, the people of Connecticut who enjoy our parks, and the out-of-work adults and youth who will earn a regular paycheck and improve essential job skills this summer," John Beauregard, Executive Director of the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board, said.

As part of the partnership, the Board has selected EASTCONN, a public, nonprofit, Regional Educational Service Center, to implement the summer job program.

The federal grant allows Connecticut to fund approximately 120 temporary positions for clean-up, demolition, repairs and renovation on destroyed or damaged public structures in most of the state's counties (Hartford county was not declared eligible for federal assistance as a result of the storm).

CTDOL is currently working with other workforce boards to develop additional clean-up and repair sites at several state and town beaches and public areas in Fairfield and New Haven counties. Under the terms of the grant, funds are to be used by October, which allows many of the repair projects to be completed in the summer months.

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For Immediate Release: June 28, 2013

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