FERRIDAY &045; Ordinarily, the workforce investment center is a job training organization. Employment Services, located in the same building in Ferriday, normally handles the job placement.

But, like so much else in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the center has taken on a different role of late.

The 50-plus evacuees who have found full-time work in Concordia Parish as part of a national emergency grant the center received on Sept. 13 are glad for the organization’s about-face.

The grant allows for people to work 40 hours a week for up to 12 weeks at a rate of $9 an hour.

The wages are taxable, but a $10 daily stipend &045; $5 each for transportation and food &045; is not.

The only caveat is that the work is limited to public bodies in the parish that have been providing services to evacuees.

Bodies that fit the bill include the school system, Head Start, the distribution center, the sheriff’s department and the library.

The 12-week period pertains to each individual, workforce center office manager Becky Daye said. If a person needs to interrupt work to go check on things at home, she said she wouldn’t hold it against them.

&uot;What I’m doing is figure 480 hours and quit paying them when they’ve worked that,&uot; she said. &uot;I know we have a letter of guarantee for that much money.&uot;

Daye started with money to provide 48 jobs, she has since been informed that she may employ as many people as she can find work for. The problem she faces now is what many unemployed people in Concordia Parish face: a lack of opportunity.

&uot;We’re a farming economy that has among the highest unemployment in the state, all the time,&uot; Daye said.

She expects to have 10 more jobs to fill in the next couple of days, and is always looking for more. She hopes the rule about who can employ evacuees under the grant will soften, but until it does she continues to make her pitch.

&uot;If any government agency that is in some way connected to evacuees, needs workers, call 757-9213,&uot; she said.

The grant is from the federal government administered by Louisiana.

Any interested Katrina evacuee can either call 757-9213 or stop by the office at 107 E.E. Wallace Blvd. to get started.

While there is not an abundance of jobs at the moment, there is not a backlog of applicants either.

Once a person is signed up, the sooner he or she can fill a vacancy when it arises.

Jobs currently being worked include file clerks, teacher aides, maintenance workers, among others.

&uot;We don’t have any fancy jobs, but we’ve got some fancy people working jobs,&uot; Daye said.

The short-term nature of the program &045; not to mention the whole situation &045; is part of the reason for the less-than-fancy jobs.

In preparation for the future, the center also teaches the applicants how to post their resume and search for jobs all over Louisiana on www.laworks.net.

But that’s the future.

&uot;A lot of them can’t think that far ahead, they’ve been through so much they just want to start this job,&uot; Daye said.