The US Department of Labor is providing $18 million dollars to help the estimated 18,000 Californians who have lost their jobs because of the drought. Most of those losses are in the Central Valley.
Marco Lizarrga is the Executive Director of La Cooperativa Campesina. The organization is one of the groups that will distribute the funds.
"It allows us to put people to work with state agencies and local government agencies and we pay them entry level salaries, which is a lot more than they make in the fields," Lizarrga said.
As many as 1,000 people will be employed for up to six months. Many will be assigned to drought restoration projects.
The state is providing an additional 7.5 million dollars to help unemployed farmworkers pay for direct services like rent.
This story was produced by Capital Public Radio.