[SEPT. 26, 2005]
CHICAGO -- Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich announced that
a partnership between state government and the private sector is
helping find jobs for people who were displaced by two major Gulf
hurricanes and are now living in Illinois. The Illinois Department
of Employment Security contacted the Illinois Chamber of Commerce
and Illinois employers with 250 or more employees to ask them to
identify job openings for hurricane evacuees living in Illinois.
More than 70 companies responded to the call and have identified
hundreds of jobs.
"When we opened our
doors to thousands of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina -- and
now victims of Hurricane Rita as well -- we took on the
responsibility of helping them get back on their feet," Blagojevich
said. "We're providing housing, health care, food, clothing, and
we're helping to find them jobs. By working with our friends in the
private sector, we're matching job skills to jobs available. I'm
proud of the way this state responded to the wide range of needs
hurricane victims are facing after the disaster on the Gulf Coast."
Major corporations like General Electric, Harris Bank, Aon
Corporation and Caterpillar are among the more than 70 companies
that responded to the state's request. The Department of Employment
Security is using its free online job matching service, Illinois
Skills Match, to help match people to potential jobs.
"IDES was asked by our affected sister states to identify jobs
that may suit those who had to evacuate their communities," said
Brenda A. Russell, department director. "Our goal is to use Illinois
Skills Match to quickly match Katrina evacuees with suitable
employment and help them recover from this disaster as quickly as
possible."
Russell also notes that jobs listed at
IllinoisSkillsMatch.com
are open to all Illinois residents. The Department of Employment
Security uses Illinois Skills Match to help employers find qualified
employees with the right skills. Only a few of the jobs listed are
restricted to hurricane evacuees; the vast majority are available to
the general public. The department will also work with employers who
are targeting jobs for hurricane evacuees to identify qualified
Illinois residents for these jobs if a qualified hurricane victim is
not found.
The state is working to ensure evacuees are aware of the job
assistance created to help them. The Department of Employment
Security is providing direct assistance to the evacuees through the
department's local offices and at emergency sites throughout the
state. The
www.ides.state.il.us website is set up with a number of links to
maximize the possibilities of matching available jobs with the
appropriate candidates.
In addition to the Illinois Skills Match, links from the Illinois
Department of Employment Security home page include other
Katrina-related employment sites. The U.S. Department of Labor's
America's Job Bank has a special site, Katrina Recovery Jobs
Connection, at
www.jobsearch.org/katrinajobs. CareerBuilder, a website
affiliated with the Chicago Tribune and other national newspapers,
has a section set up for Katrina victims at
www.katrina.jobs.
Chicagojobs.com, associated with 19 newspaper publishers in the
greater Chicago area, is devoted exclusively to Chicago-area jobs
and has a special site at
http://www.applicantresponse.net/
jobs/index.html?pid=54. All the
Katrina-related sites are free to employers and evacuees.
Other businesses have reached out and provided services to
Katrina victims. One of the best examples is a partnership with
Spherion, a private staffing firm. Spherion employees volunteered
their time to help Katrina victims assemble resumes and set up free
e-mail accounts.
While it will be days or weeks before these efforts may translate
into actual employment for the Katrina victims, the state is
encouraged by the initial response from Illinois employers and the
spirit of cooperation it has received from the private sector.
The Blagojevich administration is also helping displaced victims
process unemployment claims and facilitating job training. Employees
of the Department of Employment Security and Central Management
Services have set up remote computer stations in the state
facilities in Tinley Park, Alton, Elgin and Rockford where evacuees
are being provided housing.
Since Hurricane Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29, Blagojevich
ordered all state agencies to respond in a coordinated manner to
help the recovery and cleanup efforts in the Gulf Coast and the
victims coming into Illinois. Illinois' efforts to date include the
following:
Illinois has received more than
430 displaced victims who arrived from the Gulf Coast states on
four flights arranged by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency. Individuals and families received medical care upon
arrival, and the state provided housing in Tinley Park, Elgin,
Alton and Rockford. A total of 4,455 victims directly contacted
the state for services, according to numbers provided by the
Illinois Department of Human Services. The department also
estimates that over 8,600 evacuees are currently in Illinois.
Blagojevich announced on Sept. 4 that Illinois is ready to
receive as many as 10,000 displaced victims and called on
elected officials, community leaders, not-for-profit
organizations, religious institutions and social service
providers to match the state's coordinated relief effort to
assist the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
More than 400 children displaced
by Hurricane Katrina are enrolled in 46 school districts across
the state, as districts responded to the governor's call to
waive residency requirements and open their doors to displaced
students.
Blagojevich deployed nearly 2,100
Illinoisans to help Louisiana respond to the devastation
resulting from Hurricane Katrina. The deployments include nearly
600 firefighters and 800 National Guard troops.
A group of 130 state employees
returned to Illinois after helping the Louisiana Department of
Social Services process 25,000 evacuees for emergency food
stamps, unemployment benefits, temporary housing and other
assistance. Illinois state employees representing more than a
dozen agencies assisted Hurricane Katrina victims in the Gulf
Coast region.
The Department of Financial and
Professional Regulation has asked state-chartered banks and
thrifts to provide free check cashing, eliminate ATM service
fees, and help establish checking and saving accounts for
displaced victims now residing in Illinois.
The Illinois Department of
Revenue extended filing deadlines until Oct. 31 for taxpayers
who owe Illinois taxes and are from counties damaged by
Hurricane Katrina.
Illinois established a toll-free
line to provide Hurricane Katrina victims with immediate
assistance regarding social services offered by the state,
including health care, crisis counseling, food stamps, K-12
public school registration, and services for veterans, seniors
and people with disabilities. The number, 1 (800) 843-6154, is
staffed by the Department of Human Services.
A total of 134 highly trained law
enforcement officers from state and local agencies were deployed
to Louisiana. These include weapons-of-mass-destruction teams,
tactical response teams and underwater dive teams, along with a
mobile command post, various all-terrain vehicles, boats and
trucks.
The Illinois Department of
Transportation contributed 500 yards of fencing and 500 stakes
on two lowboys pulled by two semis in the law enforcement
convoy.
The governor dispatched a total
of 52 members of the Illinois Medical Emergency Response Team to
Louisiana to assist with care of the massive number of sick and
injured victims from Hurricane Katrina and dispatched an
11-member incident management team to George County, Miss., to
assist local emergency managers during the crisis. A 10-member
incident management team recently left Springfield to relieve
the first group. The newly deployed team includes two employees
from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and eight
emergency management coordinators from around the state.
The state's 39 community colleges
are accommodating Illinois residents displaced from higher
education studies because of the hurricane, while Illinois' 12
public universities are taking in students affected by the
destruction along the Gulf Coast.
For hurricane victims, the
Department of Natural Resources and the Illinois Historic
Preservation Agency have offered free camping and removed
length-of-stay requirements at all state parks and historic
sites that offer camping.
The Illinois Department of
Transportation waived certain transportation rules to allow
standard-sized semis carrying supplies and materials to
Louisiana to be overweight by up to 15,000 pounds when they
travel on Illinois roads. Currently, a standard-sized semi is
allowed to weigh 80,000 pounds when traveling through Illinois.
The Department of Transportation will also grant emergency
permits to companies that need to move oversized equipment to
the affected area.
The Illinois Department of
Corrections made available various items through the Illinois
Emergency Management Agency's emergency procurement system,
including 256,000 half-pints of water, 8,500 blankets, 18,300
clothing items and 2,900 dozen packages of cleaning supplies.
The Department of Corrections has also delivered 3,000 bedrolls
to the Red Cross in Hillside.
The Illinois Department of
Veterans' Affairs sent toiletries and food to facilities where
displaced victims have been housed and, in collaboration with
several other federal and private agencies, will send food to
the Gulf Coast states.
The Department of Central
Management Services made available its Bureau of Communication
and Computer Services to help provide communications assistance
to devastated areas. Using broadband services, including
high-speed data transmission to remote areas underserved by
local carriers, the bureau can provide relief command centers
with uplinks for phone and Internet access, and also links to
shelters so displaced individuals can call loved ones.
The Department of Human Services
sent staff skilled in processing food stamps, to help the U.S.
Department of Agriculture implement a disaster food stamp
program in 25 Louisiana counties.
The Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency and the Illinois Department of Public Health
dispatched 12 specialists to Louisiana. The specialists are
members of four environmental health strike teams being sent by
the state at the request of the Louisiana Emergency Management
Agency. Their expertise includes drinking water, sewage, food
safety and food salvage. In addition, two Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency trucks stocked with emergency response
equipment and two Department of Public Health vehicles were
deployed.
