US Department of Labor announces availability of approximately $125 million in grants for Community-Based Job Training Grants

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration today announced the availability of approximately $125 million in funds for Community-Based Job Training Grants.

"We are delighted to be able to create opportunities for working Americans to train for high-demand occupations with the help of community colleges and community-based organizations," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "These grants will help workers across the country prepare for good jobs. Funding community colleges and career centers ensures that we will reach a broad base of individuals in need."

Community-Based Job Training Grants will be awarded through a competitive process to support workforce training for high-growth/high-demand industries through the national system of community, technical and tribal colleges. In order to be eligible for consideration under this solicitation, an applicant must be: (1) an individual community or technical college, such as a public community college, a nonprofit community college, a tribally controlled college or a tribally controlled university, (2) a community college district, (3) a state community college system, (4) a One-Stop Career Center in partnership with its local workforce investment board that specifies one or more community or technical colleges where education/training activities will occur or (5) another entity proposing to serve an educationally underserved community without access to community or technical colleges that meets requirements outlined in the solicitation for grant applications.

It is anticipated that awards will range from $1 million to $3 million each. The exception is that applications including three or more community, technical or tribal colleges will be considered consortium applications and may request awards ranging from $1 million to $5 million. Additionally, ETA expects to allot up to $50 million of the total designated funds to organizations that have never received a Community-Based Job Training Grant.

The solicitation for grant applications is published in today's Federal Register. It provides background information and the closing date, describes submission requirements, outlines the process that eligible entities must use to apply for funds and details how grantees will be selected. To view the full solicitation online, visit http://www.doleta.gov/grants/find_grants.cfm.

For additional assistance in applying for these grants, interested parties should review ETA's online suite of resources for grant applicants. These tools introduce potential grantees to ETA grants and provide examples to guide applicants through the process. The site also includes "Grant Applications 101," an interactive, self-paced tutorial. The toolkit is available at http://www.workforce3one.org/page/grants_toolkit.