Florida Starts Partnership To Give Puerto Rico Evacuees Jobs

MIAMI LAKES, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Rick Scott is partnering with the South Florida Puerto Rican chamber of commerce and a private university from the Caribbean island to offer jobs to Hurricane Maria’s evacuees.

Scott said Wednesday the partnership will work through the state’s job placement agency CareerSource, which already received $1 million to assist families displaced by the devastating hurricane. It includes training, advertising and English classes through Puerto Rico’s Ana G. Mendez University System.

More than 350,000 Puerto Ricans have arrived in Florida after the storm destroyed the island’s electrical grid. Florida government’s tally includes those who have already returned, traveled back and forth or gone elsewhere after landing in Orlando, Miami and Tampa.

About 8,000 people displaced by Maria have sought help through the state’s career centers.