Storm-displaced western Alaska workers can still get job help

Workers on Alaska's western coast who lost jobs to last fall's storms can still get help finding new ones. The state's 13 job centers offer resume help, interview coaching and career exploration, and displaced workers may qualify for a National Dislocated Worker Grant that can cover retraining, relocation, childcare, or housing and utility costs.

One avenue has closed: the deadline to apply for Disaster Unemployment Assistance passed in early April. That program had covered workers across the Lower Kuskokwim, Lower Yukon, Kashunamiut and Yupiit school regions, the Northwest Arctic Borough and the City of St. Mary's, paying between $153 and $370 a week for up to 27 weeks after the remnants of Typhoon Halong hit the region in October 2025.

The state had extended the application window more than once, citing the region's geographic complexity and its weather-dependent communities with limited connectivity — a recognition of how hard it can be for people in remote western Alaska to file paperwork and reach services in the first place.