A grant initiative spearheaded by the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP) and Carter County Judge Executive Charles Wallace is helping Carter County recover from last summer’s massively destructive flash flooding.

Judge Wallace said, “In a time when jobs are scarce and people need help we couldn’t be happier to partner with EKCEP and be a part of a project like this.”

About 22 people are working on cleanup crews, at road departments, at solid waste stations, and as outreach workers to help flood victims access needed aid. Their wages are paid by the grant.

Carter County was still reeling from flooding in May when it was hit with another round of floods in July. Hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed, roads were damaged, and creeks were jammed with tons of debris that could make any future floods much worse.

EKCEP was one of many agencies that moved quickly to help. It partnered with other Workforce Investment Areas, county governments, and the state Office of Employment and Training to put together a $938,000 disaster grant request to provide temporary employment for workers to help recovery efforts in Carter and in Pike, Elliott and Lewis Counties, which also suffered major flood damage around the same time.

Everyone involved understood the need to get timely help for these counties and made the process as flexible, quick, and easy as possible, according to Crawford Blakeman, EKCEP’s business solutions director.

“It’s a great example of very effective partnerships working all around,” Blakeman said.

Blakeman said the employment program is designed to address critical issues related to the flood. Flood victims who lost their jobs because of the flood were given priority for the temporary jobs, which include cleaning up flood damage and debris, repairing damaged roads, and working as outreach workers to help flood victims access services and aid they need to recover from this flood.

Jason Carroll, Carter County solid waste coordinator, took time from supervising a crew removing trees, smashed trailers and other trash from a creek in the hard-hit Grahn community to say he was grateful that EKCEP and its partner Northeast Kentucky Community Action Agency (NKCAA) worked so quickly to fund and launch the employment program.

With all of the repairs needed after 2010’s floods, the county’s resources are stretched too tight to afford to clear the creeks Carroll said. But if another flood hits before they get cleared, it would multiply the scale of the disaster, so the temporary workers came at a much needed time.

“It’s just wonderful that the government could help us. It would be impossible to do on our own,” he said.

Allen Slone, one of the NEG grant workers clearing the creek, said he was glad to be able to do a job that helps his fellow Carter Countians.

“The flood was just terrifying,” he said, adding many of his friends lost their homes or suffered damage.

He also said he was glad to be back to work. Slone had been laid off for two months. His unemployment benefits had run out so the temporary work program came at just the right time.

“You better believe I was happy to find it,” Slone said.

Brenda Shumate, Workforce Investment Act Services coordinator for NKCAA, said NKCAA is glad to be involved with the project.

“It has been very rewarding to be part of something that has helped a lot of people,” she said.

For more information about EKCEP and its initiatives, visit EKCEP on the Web at www.ekcep.org or www.facebook.com/ekcep.