Federal Grants Could Spur Encore Career Creation
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What: Older Worker Demonstration Grants from the Department of Labor.
How much? Approximately a dozen awards of between $750,000 to $1,000,000.
To whom? Workforce Investment Boards and other entities that direct federal, state, and local funding to workforce development programs.
Deadline: February 19, 2009.
For more information: Click here (pdf)
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is awarding approximately $10 million in grants for “older worker” demonstration projects. These grants are intended to address the workforce challenges facing older individuals by developing regional models for talent development that recognize older workers as a valuable labor pool. The models should include employment and training strategies to retain and/or connect older workers to jobs in high growth, high demand industries critical to the regional economy.
The intended applicants are local workforce investment system, such as your Local Workforce Investment Board (LWIB), which direct federal, state, and local funding to workforce development programs. (There are certain other restrictions, so make sure to read the appendix in the announcement.)
How does this affect me if I’m not on a Local Workforce Investment Board? Talk to your LWIB and encourage them to develop programs that help older adults find encore careers that create a positive social impact (while still following the guidelines of the grant). If you’re a social or public sector employer, make your voice heard and let your LWIB know that you want them to grab this opportunity to help develop models to help deploy the talent of experienced adults to tackle social challenges in your region.
- Cal Halvorsen's blog
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- by Cal Halvorsen
DOL Older Worker Demo SGA
I did a quick scan of the solicitation, and yes it does represent an excellent opportunity for older workers and encore careers. I have decades of experience with DOL funded programs at both the grant award, and program administration levels. Of particualr interest to the Encore community is:
-a letter of support from a local WIB is not required (although shouldn’t be ignored)
-no maximum participant income limitation (does not exclude high wage earners as does most DOL programs)
-allows institutes of higher education to be involved
-seeks curricula targeted to older learners
-has a “train the trainer” component
-includes a wide range of professional and technical occupations
If anyone is interested in pursuing this opportunity, please contact me. Since the Governor of California has given me two days off a month, I’m free to do some moonlighting. Time is of essence because a February 19th submission deadline is rapidly approaching. Aside from time to write a proposal, networking and supporting documentation with signatures takes time. So, if anyone is interested, now is the time to make some of our discussions a reality.
Webinar on Older Worker Demonstration SGA
Thanks, John, for your comments. I also wanted to share that I had the chance to sit in on a webinar about the Older Worker SGA yesterday, and had some quick findings to report:
*Although Local Workforce Investment Boards (LWIBs) should not be ignored, and a letter of support from them is encouraged, there is no competitive edge for applications that come from LWIBs.
*Jobs that fall within an industry, to which the funding must go, can all be included. So, for example, the health care industry includes certified nursing assistants and home health aids – great examples of encore career opportunities. (The full listing of industries is included in the index of the announcement.)
And the most important:
*It is highly recommended that you start the registration process now at www.grants.gov, as the completion of registration can take a couple of weeks – and no late grant applications will be accepted.
Webinar on Older Worker Demonstration SGA
Cal,
Thanks for the info. I was unable to watch the Webinar, so I really am pleased some one did. Although it doesn’t seem we’re having much of a response. I’m in Sacramento and have yet to inquire of the local WIBs here, in the hopes some members of this site would like to pursue this. I will be traveling over this weekend, so I won’t be able to make any local contacts until next week. Hopefully more interest is generated over the next few days.
Workforce grants
This is wonderful news! Anyone interested in proposing an encore career development program is welcome to post here. Encore.org members offer a wealth of experience, talent and connections that may help you pull your proposal together.
Since the Governor of
Since the Governor of California has given me two days off a month, I’m free to do some moonlighting. Time is of essence because a February 19th submission deadline is rapidly approaching. Aside from time to write a proposal, networking and supporting documentation with signatures takes time. So, if anyone is interested, now is the time to make some of our discussions a reality.
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Debra Trotter
workforce grant
Terry- hope you get to feeling better soon. How does one apply for a work force grant?
Work Force grant
David – I spoke with the Workforce Board on Dallas about this grant, but they were focused on the funds they expect to receive from the Stimulus Plan. I saw the workforce grant as a way to move forward on the Older Worker Initiative whose Task Force the Community Council has been facilitating for almost a year. We will keep our eyes open to other funding opportunities that may appear.
Martha Blaine