Preparing to Win U'S' Department of Labor Grants

1
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• 2009 AWS Education Conference
• Chicago, IL

2
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• The strategy for obtaining funding from the
  Department of Labor has changed dramatically over
  the past several years
• On average there have only been 4-8 grant
  solicitations per year
• Among the most important to the workforce system
  and rural communities are
• High Growth and Sector-specific funding
• Community-Based Job Training Grants
• Energy-related funds
• Pathways Out-of-Poverty

3
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• The expectation is that planning for new
  projects, services, or programs will be done
  prior to the grant solicitation.
• Each proposal will be linked to local and
  regional economic development strategies
• Each proposal will be tied to the local workforce
  board and/or the local/regional one-stop system.
• Business and industry will play an active role in
  the design of high-growth, high-demand services.

4
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• Partnering is also critical to some U.S.
  Department of Labor (DOL) funding opportunities
• The DOL High Growth and Sector-Specific grants
  provide funding to address the needs of high
  growth, high wage industries that are critical to
  a state, regional or local economy.
• Requests for Proposals clearly indicate that the
  applicant (college, Board, or association) must
  have an existing partnership with the industry
  and that there must be a collaborative
  relationship between the Board, the College, the
  industry and the One-Stop System.
• This funding is highly competitive and to
  maximize your fundability the applicant must have
  an established working relationship with all of
  the parties.
• The funding can be used for new curriculum
  development, curriculum re-design, customized
  training, staffing, equipment, etc.

5
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• Earmarks are still available on a limited basis.
• DOL is not fond of earmark grants as it impacts
  their available discretionary funds
• DOL Earmark grant recipients are now being
  required to follow WIA common performance measure
  requirements and all DOL reporting requirements.
• Smaller rural recipients including community
  colleges are often caught unaware of the meaning
  of these changes and differences between other
  Departments funding requirements and those of
  DOL, resulting in possible disallowed costs.

6
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• The Departments 14 High Growth areas
• Advanced Manufacturing
• Aerospace
• Automotive Services
• Biotechnology
• Construction
• Energy
• Financial Services
• Geospatial Technology
• Healthcare
• Homeland Security
• Hospitality
• IT and IT-related Business Services
• Retail
• Transportation

7
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• The internal DOL three stage process to identify
  workforce challenges and solutions nationally
  (based on Bush era, Obama era is under
  development)
• Conduct an environmental scan to understand the
  economic challenges facing the industry
• ETA convenes a series of meetings to offer
  industry leaders an opportunity to share their
  current and future workforce needs with the
  workforce system. Another set of meetings is
  then convened to verify workforce challenges and
  devise solutions.
• ETA makes a series of investments in unique
  innovative and industry-driven projects that
  demonstrate training initiatives and capacity
  building strategies to address the industries
  unique workforce challenges.

8
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• Advanced Manufacturing Challenges addressed in
  prior SGA (RFP) solicitations included
• Training for innovation
• Pipeline development
• Limited English-Speaking workforce
• Foundational Skills
• Small Business Challenges
• Matching training providers to business needs
• Incumbent worker training
• Training the supply chain
• Industry capacity/lack of skilled workforce

9
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• Six critical elements of a High Growth or
  Sector-specific Advanced Manufacturing Proposal
• Innovative solutions to identified workforce
  challenges
• Strategic partnerships
• Leveraged resources
• Sustainability
• Replication of successful models for broad
  distribution
• Clear and specific outcomes

10
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• Typical Advanced Manufacturing Scoring Criteria
• Statement of need 10 points
• Innovative solutions to address
• identified workforce challenges 30 points
• Outcomes and impacts 25 points
• Linkages to key partners 15 points
• Leveraged resources 10 points
• Program management
• organizational capacity 10 points
• Bonus Connections to regional
• economies 5 points
• Total Possible Points 105 points

11
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• Community Based Job Training Grants
• A solicitation will be out in December or January
  with 45 day turnaround time.
• If you are going to seek these funds, begin your
  planning process now, including convening a
  Skills Panel for the projected high growth
  industry/sector.
• The view of some staff at DOL is that you should
  have the need thoroughly identified, have been
  working with the industry/sector to address the
  need, and that applying for DOL funding to
  support the project is the final piece.
• You must also have a strong sustainability plan
  for the project that is directly tied to the
  industry/sector, the Workforce Board and the
  One-Stop System.

12
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• The DOL Community Based Job Training Grants
  (CBJTG) initiative is primarily for community
  colleges and requires partnerships with the
  industry/sector, the Board and the local One-Stop
  System.
• The Department awards a minimum of 125 million
  per year to colleges to build training capability
  and capacity to address new and emerging
  education and training needs of local
  industries/sectors.
• The college must clearly define the
  industry/sector need, as well as the
  capability/capacity needs that the college faces
  in addressing that need.
• While not required, a pre-existing Skills Panel
  is indicative of the college working with its
  partners to address needs prior to the
  Departments solicitation

13
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• The primary purpose of these grants is to build
  the capacity of community colleges to train
  workers to develop the skills required to succeed
  in local or regional
• Industries and occupations that are expected to
  experience high growth, and
• Industries where demand for qualified workers is
  outstripping the supply.

14
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• Typically CBJTG funds are awarded to support or
  engage in a combination of capacity-building and
  training activities for the purpose of building
  the capacity of community colleges to train for
  careers in high-growth/high-demand industries in
  the local and/or regional economies. Funds are
  awarded to
• Individual community and technical colleges
• Community college districts
• State community college systems
• One-Stop Career Centers (when a college is not in
  the region)

15
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• The Critical Elements of CBJTG Grants
• A focus on skill and competency needs of
  high-growth/high-demand industries that are
  defined in the context of the regional economy
• Strategic partnerships
• Industry-driven capacity-building and training
  efforts
• Leveraged resources
• Replication of successful models for broad
  distribution
• Clear and specific outcomes and
• Integration with regional economic development
  strategies (optional).

16
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• Typical CBJTG Scoring Criteria
• Statement of need 15 points
• Linkages to key partners 20 points
• Training and capacity-building plan 25 points
• Outcomes, benefits and impact 30 points
• Program management organizational
• capacity 10 points
• Connections to regional economic
• strategies 5 points
• Integration of WIA funds 5 points
• Total Possible Points 110 points
• - indicates bonus points

17
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• DOL funding has become less political and the
  Department reserves the right to fund projects
  based on need versus actual scores.
• Panels review proposals based on the published
  criteria and make recommendations.
• Typically each panel is composed of a Department
  of Labor representative (active or retired), a
  WIB or One-Stop representative, and a community
  college or business representative.
• Panel deliberations usually last less than two
  weeks with each panelist reading 12-24 proposals.

18
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• Things that reviewers look for
• Technically the length of the proposal, margins
  and spacing.
• Content is reviewed based on ability to respond
  to the questions, completeness of application,
  partnerships, ties to required elements (e.g.
  WIB, One-Stop, regional economies), letters of
  agreement/partnership, leveraged resources,
  reasonableness of budget, budget narrative,
  sustainability plans, replication efforts,
  evaluation plan, and other required information.
• The ability to follow the instructions in terms
  of how the proposal is presented including a
  brief summary, table of contents, body of
  proposal, budget, budget narrative and required
  attachments.
• Readability of the proposal and the ability to
  follow and understand the content and program
  design.

19
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• Things that have zero relevance to the reviewer
• Political letters of support (can do more damage
  than good)
• Newspaper articles about programs, or magazine
  articles that mention programs (if you want to
  mention it put it in the narrative not in the
  attachments)
• Responses that do not answer the question or are
  totally off target (e.g. - ties to the workforce
  system and then never mention the One-Stops or
  WIB)
• Extremely long vitae or resumes (1-2 pages
  maximum)
• A rule of thumb is that attachments are usually
  limited to 10 pages, in large part to keep
  irrelevant information out of the proposal.

20
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• If you are interested in pursuing one of these
  grant opportunities
• Begin your planning now by finding and reading
  this years criteria
• Begin talking with partners to identify the
  issues, needs and possible solutions
• Consider developing a skills panel to gather the
  needed business and industry information
• Contact representatives from the Business
  Relations Group at DOL/ETA to discuss the SGA
  that you are interested in
• Document all of your meetings regarding the
  planning for the grant application, you should
  end up with a strategy to accomplish some goals
  with or without the DOL funds

21
Preparing to Win U.S. Department of Labor Grants

• Thanks for attending!
• Bob Visdos, President
• Workforce Institute, Inc.
• 10919 N. Williams Avenue
• Portland, OR 97217
• 571-214-5239
• rvisdos_at_workforceinstitute.com