Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 25, 1993                   TAG: 9305250221
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FEDERAL FUNDS GOING TO HELP UNEMPLOYED

The Roanoke Valley will receive nearly $800,000 in federal funds to provide job retraining and other assistance to workers who have lost their jobs.

Besides retraining, the money can be used for counseling, resume writing, tuition, relocation assistance, job referrals and other services.

The funds are being channeled into the valley through the Fifth District Employment and Training Consortium, a federally funded job training agency.

The U.S. Department of Labor has approved the grant under the national dislocated-worker program.

City Manager Bob Herbert said Monday that the consortium and its administrator, Vickie Price, did much of the background and legwork to obtain the $793,161 grant.

Herbert told City Council that it took longer than expected to get the grant, but Price's early efforts enabled the consortium to get it quicker than it might have otherwise.

Vice Mayor Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr. said the retraining and relocation program will help provide some security for those who have lost their jobs.

"People will have some place to go for help. It will be a good feeling for them," said Fitzpatrick, who might himself benefit from the program.

Fitzpatrick will lose his job June 30 as vice president for economic development for Dominion Bankshares. He is considering another job in the economic development field, but no announcement has been made.

City Attorney Wilburn Dibling said Fitzpatrick could vote on accepting the grant without a conflict of interest.

Herbert said Dominion told the city that 750 employees would lose their jobs, and the Gardner-Denver plant closing left 408 without jobs.

Price expects about 390 workers will participate in the retraining program. Those needing help the most will have the highest priority, she said.

The consortium plans to open an office by next week for the program. The office will be in the former voter registrar's building next to the Roanoke County Administration Center at 3738 Brambleton Ave. S.W.

In the meantime, dislocated workers can contact the consortium's office at 310 W. Campbell Ave. near the city jail if they have questions, Price said.

Price said the office for dislocated workers will have two full-time and two part-time assessment counselors. The counselors will try to match the workers' skills with the job market or advise them on retraining and possible relocation, she said.