The effort to connect former Sparrows Point workers with training for new careers gained more urgency last week as the final hopes of the steel mill reopening were dashed and as the deadline to apply for the help or forever lose it fast approaches for hundreds.
More than 1,600 of the people laid off from the Baltimore County plant are eligible for federal "trade adjustment" benefits, which cover retraining costs and come with a stipend equal to unemployment benefits once those run out. Only half have enrolled.
State officials figure that some haven't applied because they've retired, but fear many of the rest either are unaware of the help despite outreach efforts or have been holding off in the hope that the mill would be restarted.
Now state workers are calling everyone who hasn't already missed their chance to urge them to act fast. The deadline is 26 weeks after the date of layoff, and some 100 or so residents only have until this week. Others will pass the cutoff date soon after.
Mr Leonard J Howie III, Maryland's labor secretary said that "Understand, the clock is definitely ticking here."
The 125 year-old Sparrows Point plant, which supplied steel for the Golden Gate Bridge, Maryland's Bay Bridge and hundreds of World War II ships, was closed this summer after owner RG Steel went bankrupt. A liquidation company and a redevelopment firm bought the property at auction, but both companies vowed then to look for an operator to restart some or all of the plant.
A second auction was set for January, with a December 21 deadline for bids. It never got to that point.