The country’s largest shelter provider for unaccompanied immigrant minors, which has extensive operations in Arizona, has laid off about 1,500 employees across the state after the federal government terminated its grant funding, the organization revealed in a recent notice to the state.
Southwest Key Programs Inc., an Austin, Texas-based nonprofit, furloughed a large number of workers earlier this year after receiving a "sudden and unforeseen suspension notice" from the government related to its programs serving unaccompanied immigrant children, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, obtained by the Phoenix Business Journal.
Some 1,467 employees in the Grand Canyon State are affected by the layoffs, according to a public notice on the Arizona Department of Economic Security website.