This month, Kentucky will resume in-person unemployment insurance assistance for the first time since 2017.
Beginning April 15, staff at Kentucky Career Center locations will be available for in-person assistance by appointment only. KCC locations stopped providing in-person unemployment assistance in 2017 during former governor Matt Bevin’s administration, a press release from Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Labor Cabinet Secretary Larry L. Roberts says.
KCC staff have been providing virtual assistance until now.
Kentucky residents must make appointments for in-person services and can begin registering at kcc.ky.gov beginning at 1 p.m. today, April 7. Appointments made on April 7 will be for in-person appointments April 15-30.
Appointment registration will open again on April 19, with those appointments being scheduled for May 3 and beyond. Additional appointment dates will open in the future.
“When you combine years of painful staffing cuts, an out-of-date system designed to tell people no and the effects of a once-in-100-years pandemic – many Kentuckians have been unable to obtain benefits,” Beshear says. “In addition to taking many new actions to help Kentuckians in need, we are now making good on our promise to begin putting unemployment specialists back into the local career centers.”
Current staff in the KCC locations who normally provide career counseling services will now provide unemployment insurance assistance, the release says.
For the in-person appointments, Kentuckians must wear a mask and bring photo identification. KCC locations will not accommodate people without appointments.
KCC staff will provide in-person assistance at 13 locations throughout the state. Find more information at kcc.ky.gov.
This article appears in Apr 1-30, 2021.