Workforce Solutions South Plains Receives Funding to Help Former Plainview Cargill Workers

A portion of the funding made available for re-employment services for former Cargill Meat Processing Plant workers has been received.

The announcement comes Monday from Workforce Solutions South Plains, which said that they have received $1.1 million of the $2.1 million grant to help those put out of work by the closing of the Plainview plant in January 2013.

“As demonstrated by the informational session held last Thursday in Plainview for the former workers, there is still a great demand for job training and employment assistance for the displaced workers,” said Workforce Solutions South Plains CEO Martin Aguirre.

Aguirre continued, saying “The Plainview community has been very supportive of helping to enhance our efforts since the plant’s closure in January when more than 2,000 workers lost their jobs.”

Workforce Solutions South Plains began offering re-employment services in early February by opening a new Job Opportunities Center in Plainview dedicated to assisting former Cargill workers find jobs, and they held a job fair attended by 1,150 of the displaced employees.

The group also offered two days of Rapid Response Services, which provided services for job searches, job referrals, and registering with the www.WorkInTexas.com job matching site.

The remaining $1 million will be released by the U.S. Department of Labor to the Texas Workforce Commission as determined by future need.

More information is available at www.spworkforce.org.