This week’s abrupt freeze of the National Dislocated Worker Grant due to federal funding cuts has local leaders scrambling to help some 131 displaced workers who had been employed in wildfire recovery operations.
NDWG provides supplemental funding to help individuals find employment following a major economic dislocation, such as a disaster.
On Monday, the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations informed Maui Economic Opportunity, which administers the grant on Maui, that it did not have enough funds to cover MEO’s January payment request for reimbursement and that continued funding through the U.S. Department of Labor remained uncertain.
Following the news from DLIR, MEO CEO Debbie Cabebe said “That left us no choice other than shutting down immediately to prevent incurring further potentially non-reimbursable expenses.
“We do not have an abundance of discretionary funding to cover potentially millions of dollars in expenses.”
The fired workers were employed by Employers Options and placed with 27 host sites performing wildfire cleanup, recovery and humanitarian work.
MEO and the Maui County American Job Center are hosting a resource fair for NDWG workers on Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon, at the MEO’s Wailuku office at 99 Mahalani St.
State Sen. Angus McKelvey criticized the defunding of the grant.
“The sudden termination of these positions is not just a policy shift; it is a profound misstep that threatens our economic stability and the well-being of our community,” McKelvey said in a statement released late Wednesday. “Many of these individuals who have already endured the trauma of the August 2023 wildfires were dedicating their time and energy to rebuilding Maui. Now, without warning, they have been left jobless, without a clear path forward.”
In his first Cabinet meeting Wednesday, President Trump expressed support for cost-cutting measures across the government, led by the U.S. DOGE Service, saying that it would lead to a balanced federal budget.
The terminations have already had an impact on wildfire recovery operations, including the temporary closure the Council for a Native Hawaiian Advancement’s Kakoo Maui Distribution Center.
“This is a short-sighted move that will ultimately cost more in the long run,” McKelvey said of the federal government’s decision to cut funding for NDWG. “Stripping away support mechanisms forces individuals to rely more heavily on government aid and charitable organizations, creating a cycle of dependency rather than empowerment. We should be investing in our workforce, not abandoning them.”
McKelvey lauded Gov. Josh Green’s recent executive order establishing the Operation Hire Hawaii initiative, which streamlines and accelerates the state’s hiring process to allow fired federal workers find employment with the state.
The senator encouraged individual counties to follow suit in recruiting displaced federal workers for vacant positions. Earlier this week, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi announced Federal-to-Municipal Workforce Transition Initiative to help qualified federal employees find work with the city and county.
“We need a commitment from every level of government to ensure that these workers, who have given so much to their communities, are not left behind,” McKelvey said.
Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at michael.tsai@charter.com.