By PETER WONG/Oregon Capital Bureau
Oregon will spend more than $4.5 million from a new federal grant, one of four in the nation, to improve its reach to people who have trouble obtaining unemployment benefits.
Acting Director David Gerstenfeld said the grant will enable the Oregon Employment Department to build on what it started at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic two years ago, when a surge of benefit claims overwhelmed the staff. Many claims were from people who had never applied for help or were unfamiliar with the process.
“We have listened to the needs that were voiced by Oregon’s diverse communities,” Gerstenfeld told reporters at a virtual briefing Wednesday. “We have quickly applied strategies that have improved access. However, we know we are still not meeting the needs of all Oregonians, especially those in underserved communities. We want to do better. This grant will help us reach those people who really need our services, but have not been able to access them.”
The agency will build on its expansion of written and website materials in languages other then English, outreach to community groups that can help people navigate the system, and one-on-one meetings between staff and workers who need help.
A new unit within the agency will focus on equitable access to unemployment benefits.
Among the groups that the new efforts will focus on are Black people, Hispanics, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, immigrants, people with disabilities, people whose primary language is not English, and people who are poor.
Money also will be spent on collecting information that the agency can use to measure and improve its efforts.
