In order to help states make Unemployment Insurance more accessible to eligible individuals, the U.S. Department of Labor has created two types of grants to fund UI equity and accessibility initiatives.
ARPA Unemployment Insurance Navigator grants, administered by the department’s Employment and Training Administration, allow community partners in each state to conduct outreach and offer training and resources to marginalized communities. The Navigator grant program emphasizes work intended to help women, racial and ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, members of religious minorities, and LGBTQI+ individuals.
ARPA Unemployment Insurance Equity grants provide funding for states to reduce accessibility issues marginalized communities encounter. Grant-funded projects may include expanding outreach, enhancing identification authentication requirements, improving technology, streamlining instructions, providing translation services, increasing staffing, and addressing other accessibility issues with the goal of providing a better UI experience for all people.
We'll have more grant-focused content to share in the near future. In the meantime, we encourage you to check out our Overview of State Equity Grants to get a better sense of grantees' areas of focus, along with this summary of Equity Grant activity (dated 5/15/23).