BRAC USA has announced a $1.25 million grant to create employment opportunities for garment workers from the Rana Plaza factory complex near Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Awarded through the organization's Bangladesh Humanitarian Fund, the grant will support job training and counseling services for workers at the complex, which collapsed a year ago today. The services and training will be provided by BRAC, the Dhaka-based global development organization, of which BRAC USA is an independent North American affiliate. BRAC USA established the fund as part of a renewed push in support of Bangladesh garment workers leading up to the one-year anniversary of the factory collapse in which more than eleven hundred people died.

"Rana Plaza was like Bangladesh's 9/11," said BRAC USA president and CEO Susan Davis. "Those who died on April 24 did so working in dangerous conditions to provide a better future for their families and make our own clothing more affordable. For those still grieving, there's nothing that can offset the loss of their loved ones. But we can and should show our solidarity with those who survived."