The U.S. Department of Labor has given $2.9 million to the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations for education and job training for people who are unemployed, underemployed and/or receiving Social Security disability benefits. Hawaii was among seven states that received a total of $21.2 million for similar initiatives. The grants were announced Sept. 27.

The Hawaii initiative is jointly funded and administered by the state Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration and its Office of Disability Employment Policy.

"During these difficult economic times, it is important to ensure that all workers, including those with disabilities … are able to benefit from the Labor Department’s employment and retraining services," Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said in a news release. "These federal grants will help to provide services and support to individuals with disabilities in seven additional states, and put them on the path to permanent and secure jobs."

The grants are part of cooperative agreements with California, Hawaii, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington and Wisconsin.

Here are some other grants made recently to government and private agencies in Hawaii:

» The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has awarded a $1.5 million grant to the Institute for Human Services for partnerships with health care providers and other agencies to offer services for homeless people.

It is one of 14 national grants from the federal agency under a project called Aligning Community Partners to Enhance Well-Being of Chronic Homeless.

The goal is to facilitate access to psychiatric and other mental health services, substance abuse assessment, housing and other services for homeless people.

"This grant provides funding to further energize the collaborative work that has been facilitated by the work of the Governor’s Homeless Coordinator and the 90-Day Plan," IHS Executive Director Connie Mitchell said in a news release. "We know we can help more homeless persons access the health and substance abuse treatment they need if we can just streamline processes for them."

Half of the $1.5 million will be paid out over the next three years to collaborating agencies such as Hina Mauka, the Queen’s Medical Center, the John A. Burns School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry, Legal Aid Society of Hawaii, Partners in Care and the Hepatitis Support Network of Hawaii.

» The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has given $290,000 to the state Department of Health’s Disease Outbreak Control Division to further develop the department’s ability to identify and monitor infectious diseases, including food-borne illness such as salmonellosis, vaccine-preventable diseases such as whooping cough and other public health threats.

"The Department of Health continues to aggressively seek federal funding to support state efforts to protect and improve the health of the people of Hawaii," state Health Director Loretta Fuddy said in a news release. "Expanding our state’s disease investigation and laboratory surveillance programs is an important investment in the people of our state and critical for ensuring the health and safety of our residents and visitors."

The majority of the grant will be used to fund an additional epidemiology staff position and provide training for existing field specialists and laboratory staff.

The grant money will also allow the department to work with two hospital groups to improve electronic data reporting on antibiotic-resistant organisms to the National Healthcare Safety Network, and enable the Health Department to help health care facilities conduct training and quality improvement projects to reduce health care-associated infections.

» The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded $325,000 to the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii for housing discrimination assistance services. The money is in the form of a Private Enforcement Initiative grant.