Foa_Content_of_FOA-ETA-22-02.pdf

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

ANNOUNCEMENT FOR: Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants

ANNOUNCEMENT TYPE: Initial

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY NUMBER: FOA-ETA-22-02

CATALOG OF FEDERAL DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE (CFDA) NUMBER: 17.261

KEY DATES: The closing date for receipt of applications under this Announcement is 06/02/2022. We must receive applications no later than 11:59 pm Eastern Time.

Submit all applications in response to this solicitation through https://www.grants.gov. For complete application and submission information, including online application instructions, please refer to Section IV.

On approximately March 15, 2022 a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page about the Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants FOA will be available at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/grants/apply/find-opportunities. Please check this link frequently for future updates, as additional FAQs may be added. A pre-recorded Prospective Applicant Webinar will also be available at the same link and available for viewing any time after that date. While a review of this Webinar is strongly encouraged to support successful grant applications, it is not mandatory.

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/grants/apply/find-opportunities

Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

A. PROGRAM PURPOSE

B. PROGRAM AUTHORITY

C. ALLOWABLE ACTIVITIES

D. GEOGRAPHIC SCOPE

E. TARGET SECTORS AND OCCUPATIONS

F. INDUSTRY-RECOGNIZED CREDENTIALS

G. EVALUATIONS

II. AWARD INFORMATION

A. AWARD TYPE AND AMOUNT

B. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

A. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

B. COST SHARING OR MATCHING

C. OTHER INFORMATION

IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

A. HOW TO OBTAIN AN APPLICATION PACKAGE

B. CONTENT AND FORM OF APPLICATION SUBMISSION

C. SUBMISSION DATE, TIME, PROCESS AND ADDRESS

D. INTERGOVERNMENTAL REVIEW

E. FUNDING RESTRICTIONS

F. OTHER SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

V. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION

A. CRITERIA

B. REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS

VI. AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

A. AWARD NOTICES

B. ADMINISTRATIVE AND NATIONAL POLICY REQUIREMENTS

C. REPORTING

VII. AGENCY CONTACTS

VIII. OTHER INFORMATION

A. WEB-BASED RESOURCES

B. INDUSTRY COMPETENCY MODELS AND CAREER CLUSTERS

C. WORKFORCEGPS RESOURCES

D. SKILLSCOMMONS RESOURCES

IX. OMB INFORMATION COLLECTION

APPENDIX A: RESOURCES ON GAP ANALYSIS AND ADDRESSING ISSUES OF

EQUITY

APPENDIX B: RESOURCES ON CAREER PATHWAYS AND SECTOR STRATEGIES .82

APPENDIX C: RESOURCES ON EVIDENCE-INFORMED DESIGN

APPENDIX D: RESOURCES ON LOGIC MODEL

APPENDIX E: RESOURCES ON CAPACITY BUILDING AND SUSTAINABLE

SYSTEMS CHANGE

APPENDIX F: RESOURCES ON EVALUATION

APPENDIX G: SUGGESTED TABLE FOR PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES

APPENDIX H: SUGGESTED PROJECT WORK PLAN FORMAT

APPENDIX I: SUGGESTED ABSTRACT FORMAT

ENDNOTES

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL, or the Department, or we), announces the availability of approximately $45,000,000 in grant funds authorized by the Section 169(c) of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act for the second round of the Strengthening Community Colleges (SCC2) Training Grants program.

This second round of Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants will increase the capacity and responsiveness of community colleges to close equity gaps in addressing skill development needs of employers and workers, in support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s priorities to leverage and advance community colleges. Awarded grants will focus on accelerated learning strategies that support skill development, rapid reskilling, and employment through targeted industry sectors and career pathway approaches. These strategies will also address identified equity gaps to increase full access to educational and economic opportunity– particularly for individuals from historically underrepresented and marginalized populations and communities.

This Opportunity is built around four core elements: 1) Advancing Equity, 2) Accelerated Career Pathways, 3) Results-Driven Project Design, and 4) Sustainable Systems Change.

With respect to evidence, applicants are asked to justify why the proposed strategies are likely to lead to the proposed outcomes, and illustrate that using a logic model. All those receiving an award are required to do a rigorous implementation or developmental evaluation through a qualified third-party, and this is an allowable cost of the award. In addition, applicants may opt to apply for additional evaluation funding beyond the standard grant award range to support a rigorous outcome, impact, or behavioral interventions study that assesses the effectiveness of the interventions, including whether the service delivery advances equity or other outcomes.

Applicants may apply as individual institutions of higher education (institutions) or as part of a consortium of institutions. For both single and consortium applicants, the lead entity must be a community college that is a public institution of higher education as defined in Section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act, and at which the associate degree is primarily the highest degree awarded. The Department will award bonus points to lead applicants that are Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges or Universities, Minority-Serving Institutions, or Strengthening Institutions Programs using Department of Education eligibility indicators. Consortium applicants can be organized around a state focus, a regional labor market focus, or an affinity focus, which is further described in Section III.A.1. Employers and the public workforce development system are required partners in all projects, which also encourage additional strategic partnerships to support successful employment outcomes for participants and sustainable systems change for community colleges.

While matching funds are not required, leveraged funding and resources (including existing curricula) are strongly encouraged.

Two types of funding for this training initiative are available through this Announcement: SCC2 Program Grants and Additional SCC2 Evaluation Funding.

The Department anticipates that approximately $40 million of the $45 million total available will fund SCC2 Program Grants. Out of that amount, the Department anticipates awarding at least 75 percent of available funding through approximately 5-7 consortia grants (with funding levels between $1.5 and $5 million), and the remaining available funding through 6-8 single institution grants (with funding levels between $1.5 and $1.6 million). Up to $5 million of SCC2 Program Grant funds will be set aside to ensure the award of at least one affinity-focused consortium grant.

Up to $5 million of the $45 million total available will be set aside for Additional SCC2 Evaluation Funding, to award additional evaluation funding to 2-4 competitive applicants awarded SCC2 Program Grants, with a demonstrated justification for additional support to carry out an impact, outcomes, or behavioral interventions study. If insufficient qualifying applications are received for Additional SCC2 Evaluation Funding, any funds not awarded for the additional evaluation component will be applied to SCC2 Program Grant awards.

I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

A. PROGRAM PURPOSE

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA, or Announcement) solicits applications for the second round of Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants (or SCC2). For the purposes of this FOA, this training initiative has two parts: the standard program grants will be referred to as SCC2 Program Grants and the additional evaluation funds will be referred to as Additional SCC2 Evaluation Funding, with the latter explained in Section II.A. Award Type and

Amount. The purpose of this program is to address two inter-related needs: 1) to increase the capacity and responsiveness of community colleges to address identified equity gaps (as described in Core Element 1: Advancing Equity), and 2) to meet the skill development needs of employers in in-demand industries and career pathways, as well as the skill development needs of marginalized and underrepresented workers.

This grant program builds on the learnings from the four rounds of Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grants, which focused on capacity building at community colleges and large-scale systems change within community college consortia. TAACCCT evaluations provided many relevant insights into the investments and partnerships necessary to drive systems change to address the skills development and retraining needs of adult workers and learners, and these provide a foundation for the Strengthening Community Colleges grant program. This second round of Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants builds on TAACCCT learnings and the first round of SCC investments, with a new focus on advancing equity by identifying and addressing equity gaps that directly or indirectly impact labor market outcomes for underrepresented and marginalized populations and communities. SCC2 aligns with the Biden-Harris Administration’s vision to build community college capacity for in-demand skills training through strategic partnerships between industry, education, and the workforce system.

Ultimately, these grants should build the capacity of community colleges to equitably increase access to employment through educational and economic opportunity, by focusing on specific industry sectors and career pathways that will lead to skill development, rapid reskilling, and employment in quality jobs. These efforts will yield sustainable systems-level changes in education and training through collaboration between community colleges, employers and the public workforce development system that align education and training, work experiences, and industry-recognized credentials that lead to career growth.

SCC2 grants will focus on advancing equitable employment throughout the grant program, specifically equity gaps in opportunities for credentials, and equity in employment outcomes for the participants served by the community colleges, and may also include increasing the capacity of the colleges to make sustainable shifts in how they support equitable employment. In January 2021, the President issued Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. In support of this order, the SCC2 FOA will ensure equitable opportunities for federal funding by encouraging and incentivizing applications from specific institutions. These institutions include Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities, and Minority-Serving Institutions, as well as institutions funded under the Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP). SIP institutions, funded through the Higher Education Act’s Titles III and V, are qualifying institutions that serve a higher than average percentage of low-income students and that have low education expenditures per student. See Section III.A.3. Qualified Institutions for more information.

A broad range of workers will benefit from this grant program, including dislocated workers, incumbent workers, and new entrants to the workforce. The intended focus of SCC2 is to increase employment equity through educational and economic opportunity for historically marginalized or excluded populations such as people of color, women, individuals with disabilities, and those previously incarcerated. Veterans, military spouses, and many other populations will also benefit from the accelerated career pathways developed or enhanced through these grants.

Capacity-building grants provide an opportunity to invest in long-term systems change, and this FOA provides broad opportunities for such systems changes. When choosing which changes to focus on, and to support development of a project design, applicants should ask themselves:

1. What are the critical equity gaps that we want to target that impact both employment and the education that supports employment opportunities – and why? What practices, policies, and leadership changes are needed to increase our capacity to support equitable employment? What does the available evidence say about interventions that are likely to be successful for advancing equity?

2. Given our local context, which career pathway(s), and which enhancement strategies to accelerate movement along those career pathways, offer the best opportunities to address the identified equity gaps for improved employment outcomes? What does the available evidence say about the strategies that will more likely lead to successful outcomes?

3. How can we design and implement a work plan to support results-driven outcomes and report findings?

4. How can we ensure that the systems changes we make are institutionalized and sustained over the long term? What does the available evidence say about the strategies that will more likely lead to sustainable systems change?

Each of the four questions above is addressed further in the Core Elements below. For the purposes of this FOA, the four core elements serve as essential components of successful approaches to achieving the SCC2 Program Grants objectives. Although presented in a sequential format, the core elements are interrelated and mutually reinforcing. By design, the SCC2 core elements may take multiple forms depending on the situation and context.

To ensure that SCC2 projects accomplish the goals stated above in Section I.A., the Department will fund applications that address, in their proposals, the following SCC Core Elements.

1. Core Element 1: Advancing Equity

In determining a project design for this Announcement, applicants will need to ask themselves, “What are the critical equity gaps that we want to target that impact both employment and the education that supports employment opportunities – and why? What practices, policies, and leadership changes are needed to increase our capacity to support equitable employment? What does the available evidence say about interventions that are likely to be successful for advancing equity?"

Pursuant to Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, the term “equity” means the “consistent and systematic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment, such as Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.”

In the context of this Announcement, an “equity gap” refers to significant and persistent inequity or disparity in the employment or educational opportunities offered to individuals who belong to one of the marginalized communities described in Executive Order 13985. These opportunities may include opportunities for students related to educational access or attainment, but they must ultimately relate to employment outcomes. They may also include inequities in opportunities for faculty and staff of the community colleges themselves, particularly where addressing those faculty and staff opportunities would improve the training and education, and supports for training and employment, of students.

An equity gap analysis must clearly articulate the equity gap(s) that the proposed project will address, and must demonstrate the extent of the identified barriers, based on data, evidence, and research, as appropriate. Applicants must demonstrate the connection between the identified gap(s) and employment outcomes. The identified gap(s) and their root causes should serve as the focusing elements in the development of the proposal.

The following are examples of focus areas for an equity gap analysis that may be present within an applicant’s institution or consortium, based on persistent national equity gaps. Applicants should not limit themselves to addressing these particular gaps; instead, we encourage applicants to identify the equity gap(s) that have the greatest impact on employment outcomes, based on their data analysis and the evidence available.

Disparities in enrollment rates for students of color, women, students with disabilities, and/or other target populations, particularly with respect to programs of study that have high employment or educational outcomes.

Disparities in completion rates for programs of study, or credential attainment, for students of color, women, students with disabilities, and/or other target populations.

The gap in job placement rates and/or earnings for specific target populations in specific career pathways.

Disparities in dropout/resignation rates at critical points along a career pathway.

Disparities in the percentage of students participating in work-based learning programs.

Inequitable rates of tenure for certain faculty groups compared to the overall rate, which inhibits students from getting the best qualified instructors.

A lack of diverse and culturally responsive curricula and points of view in course content.

While evidence is still emerging, data show that low-paid workers and, in particular, people of color face persistent economic disparities, which the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated.

[1] Historically marginalized students tend to face significant disparities in access to and participation in high-quality career and technical education programs at community colleges. For instance, some research shows that program completion rates and earnings six years after program entry are lower for Black and Latino/a/x students than for White students, even among students in the same field of study (Anderson et al. 2021, Appendix A). [2] Other research suggests that students of color are overrepresented in shorter-term programs that yield lower economic returns, are less likely to stack credentials, and have lower credit for learning take-up rates (Kazis & Leasor in Brock & Slater 2021, Appendix A). Moreover, compared to students in credit programs, students in noncredit programs may be more likely to be of color, low-income, and older, and less likely to have access to the resources and support services that promote student success (ESG 2020, Appendix B).

A key contribution of the Department’s past investments in community colleges, especially the TAACCCT program, has been to position career pathways as a primary “mechanism for delivering high-quality credentials” (Bragg 2020, p. 8, Appendix B). All four rounds of TAACCCT emphasized that shorter-term, non-degree credentials should be stackable within longer-term educational programs that lead to associate and four-year college degrees, and provide opportunities for individuals to advance in the labor market as they progress along the career pathway. Some research suggests that certain non-degree credentials can have positive employment outcomes for adult learners, especially when the credentials are longer in length (i.e., credentials of six months to two years) (Blume et al. 2019, Valentine & Clay 2019, Appendix B). In addition, strategies designed to improve adult completion of non-degree credentials, including career pathways, comprehensive student supports, and credit for prior learning, can have positive impacts on non-degree credential completion (McKay et al. 2019, Miller et al. 2020, Appendix B). [3]

To realize the promise of career pathways as drivers of educational and economic mobility for students of all backgrounds, community colleges—in partnership with employers, the workforce development system, and other stakeholders—must rethink the design and delivery of their pathways approaches. This includes recognizing that “issues of inequity can occur at a number of points throughout the education pathway”—from recruitment and enrollment, to program retention and completion, to post graduation employment and career advancement (Dalporto & Tessler 2020, p. 7, Appendix A). Moreover, given the multilayered nature of such inequities, building an equity focus must occur simultaneously across multiple levels, including at the individual, interpersonal, program, institutional, and systems levels (Anderson et al. 2021; Petty & Leach 2020, Appendix E).

Research to date suggests several approaches to closing equity gaps in career pathway programs, including:

Aligning noncredit and credit programs. Supporting the transferability and articulation of noncredit courses to degree programs—a key focus of accelerating time to completion and employment—can play a critical role in addressing the inequities that students in noncredit courses and programs often face (Kazis & Leasor in Brock & Slater 2021, Bragg et al. 2019). Strategies include designing noncredit certificates to function as on-ramps to degree programs; making noncredit programs credit-worthy using “bridge tools,” such as articulation agreements, competency-based education, and prior learning assessments; converting noncredit into credit-based programs though accreditation; and ensuring that credits in the same field are transferable and portable.

[4] Importantly, strategies to reduce equity gaps related to credential attainment in developmental education can include efforts to redesign contextualized or integrated basic skills instruction so that it is credit bearing and incorporated into credit-based pathways. [5]

Providing comprehensive student supports. A growing body of research suggests that reducing equity gaps in retention and completion likely will require that colleges support students by offering wraparound and holistic services throughout the career pathway (Miller et al. 2020, Price & Valentine 2019, Bragg 2020). Several experimental studies have shown that strategies such as delivering comprehensive supports through individualized and proactive coaching, as well as through bundling and sequencing supports, significantly improve rates of persistence and degree completion (Price & Valentine 2019, Miller et al. 2020). [6] The literature also suggests that the “supports should be delivered both one-on-one and in small group settings, and that the supports should be more intentionally integrated into the student experience so they are unavoidable as students progress along their career pathway—from intake to completion” (Cotner et al. 2021, p. 37, Appendix B).

Improving data and tracking. Efforts to close equity gaps necessitate a deep understanding of where disparities in access and outcomes exist, as well as of the extent to which the disparities are increasing or decreasing. Without such awareness, reform efforts may result in actions that reinforce existing inequities (Fink & Jenkins 2020, Appendix A). Thus, colleges should aim to build and improve data systems that allow them to track and analyze education, earnings, and employment outcomes that are disaggregated by race/ethnicity, gender, age, socioeconomic status, and other such characteristics. [7] They also should seek to collect data on noncredit certificates and industry certifications, and to integrate data on students in credit and noncredit courses and programs into institutional—and where available, statewide—data systems.

Accordingly, applicants are required to identify equity gaps and propose evidence-informed strategies that can address disparities, and build capacity to promote student access to and success in high-quality, accelerated career pathways with strong labor market prospects.

2. Core Element 2: Accelerated Career Pathways

In determining a project design for this Announcement, applicants will also need to ask themselves, “Given our local context, which career pathway(s), and which enhancement strategies to accelerate movement along those career pathways, offer the best opportunities to address the identified equity gaps for improved employment outcomes? What does the available evidence say about the strategies that will more likely lead to successful outcomes?"

Career pathway programs offer a clear sequence of education coursework and/or training credentials aligned with employer-validated work readiness standards and competencies, and integrate academic and occupational skills training. A career pathway system is the cohesive combination of partnerships, resources and funding, policies, data, and shared accountability measures that support the development, quality, scaling, and dynamic sustainability of career pathways and programs for youth and adults. To realize the potential of career pathways, stakeholders must work simultaneously and iteratively on both the programmatic and systems levels.

Emerging research to date suggests several approaches to accelerating career pathway programs, including:

Collaborating with a consortium of employers. High-quality career pathways are generally sector-focused, incorporating the needs and hiring opportunities of employers within a specific industry sector. Hence, the Department strongly encourages applicants to build on successful, ongoing industry sector strategies. [8] To help ensure that pathways align closely with employer needs that also connect individuals to quality jobs, applicants are required to collaborate with a consortium of employers offering jobs that pay family-sustaining wages in identified, in-demand industries. [9] For industry partnerships to play a transformational role in meeting colleges’ equity goals, colleges must deepen their engagement—at the strategic level—with employers at all levels of project design and implementation. [10]

Partnering with one or more public workforce development system partners. The public workforce development system can also play a critical role in developing innovative and sustainable career pathway programs and systems. Research shows that partnerships with the public workforce development system have the potential to bolster community colleges’ efforts to recruit prospective students, provide persistence and completion supports to students, develop data sharing agreements, and create statewide policies and practices to support adult learners, among other such benefits (Eyster et al.

2020, Appendix B). Hence, applicants are required to partner with one or more public workforce development system partners, as discussed in Section III.A.5. Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants (SCC) Partnership. The required partner entity is a state or local workforce development board, and applicants may also partner with American Job Centers, the Adult Education and Family Literacy Program authorized under Title II of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), and other service providers. In addition, to ensure a deeper connection with the workforce development system, the Department expects that applicants will propose career pathway strategies in industry sector(s) that closely align with the workforce priorities of their state and/or region. We urge applicants to describe their proposal’s strategic alignment with such priorities in the required equity gap analysis, as described in Core Element 1.

Collaborating with unions or labor-management organizations. The Department strongly encourages applicants to collaborate with unions or labor-management organizations to ensure that career pathways result in quality jobs that support worker voice, safety, and benefits. This collaboration may occur through the employer partners, as well as through separate outreach efforts. This collaboration also supports workforce needs through a dual-customer approach; these intermediary organizations provide a direct link to many training opportunities, while also providing worker input into local and regional training needs and solutions. Such organizations can help translate the capacity-building efforts of community colleges into direct training pathways and access to the targeted populations that the project seeks to benefit through the identified equity strategies.

Accordingly, in relationship with required and optional partners, successful applicants under this FOA will build or enhance career pathway programs that may include the following accelerated learning strategies:

Stacked and latticed credentials. These credentials, which students may earn in sequence, build upon previously learned content as individuals progress along a career pathway or up a career ladder. They allow individuals to build a portfolio of credentials that are embedded into the curricula as they transition from learning to work or to different and potentially higher-paying jobs.

Competency-based education and assessment. Competency-based education is an outcomes-oriented approach in which colleges assess and certify student mastery of learning outcomes through observational methods, such as task performance, exams, demonstrations, or other direct measures of proficiency. Students earn credentials based on the mastery of specific competencies as demonstrated through performance-based assessments.

Credit for prior learning and prior learning assessments. Often used interchangeably, these terms refer to a process that involves an evaluation of skills and knowledge acquired from prior coursework or outside the classroom (i.e., the workplace) for the purpose of recognizing mastery against a given set of standards, competencies, or learning outcomes.

Modularized curricula. A modularized curriculum is structured so that each course— divided into multiple, self-contained units of instruction—builds upon the next, with individuals building and attaining new skills as they move through competency sets. Instructors teach modules in manageable “chunks” so that individuals with varying levels of proficiency can progress. Modularized curricula can support self-paced learning, which allows individual to complete coursework at their own pace rather than during set classroom times.

Integrated education and career-focused training programs that offer accelerated and contextualized remediation. Contextualized remediation is instruction that embeds traditional academic content (e.g., reading, writing, mathematics) within technical coursework, e.g., within courses in a selected program(s) of study. This model often occurs in tandem with a co-requisite or concurrent model of instruction, which involves simultaneous enrollment of students in remedial and college-level coursework.

Dual enrollment for secondary and postsecondary pathway programs. Dual enrollment programs allow students to access college classes and achieve college credit before they graduate high school. Such programs can serve as a fast track for students toward a career pathway that aligns with college courses and curriculum.

Improved comprehensive and personalized student support services and career guidance. Support services, often referred to as wraparound supports, are designed to enable an individual’s participation in education and training, and may include child care, transportation, housing, counseling, and provision of work tools or work clothes, among other services. Support staff, known variously as navigators, success coaches, or career coaches, typically deliver or provide access to these services, offering academic guidance and advising, academic support, career coaching, job placement, referrals to resources, and other supplemental services. The Department encourages applicants to use grant funds to build their capacity to offer these services in the long term, and to coordinate with WIOA and other program partners to leverage the resources needed to address SCC2 project participant needs.

Use of online and distance learning and advanced training technologies for rapid feedback and adaptive learning. Online and technology-enabled (including hybrid, or a blend of online and classroom instruction) learning strategies provide individuals an opportunity to balance the competing demands of work and family with acquiring new knowledge and skills at a time, place, and/or pace that is convenient for them. The use of technology to enable rolling and open enrollment processes, modularize content delivery, and accelerate course delivery, among other strategies, can help colleges and universities increase access to postsecondary education and training. However, while still emerging, there is evidence suggesting that unequal access to technology and “digital skills gaps” may disproportionately affect people of color (Anderson et al. 2021). Particularly given the rapid shift to online programming that the pandemic accelerated, institutions should prioritize efforts to ensure that online and hybrid learning environments are high quality and designed to successfully serve marginalized groups. The literature contains many examples of strategies for promoting student success in online programming, including ensuring that students have access to technology, software, and broadband internet;

providing students with academic and technological supports that encourage engagement with faculty, peers, and course content; and offering instructors ongoing professional development to “prepare them for teaching online with an equity focus” (ibid., p. 17).

Refer to Appendix B for more information and resources on the strategies listed above.

3. Core Element 3: Results-Driven Project Design

In determining a project design for this Announcement, applicants will need to ask themselves, “How can we design and implement a work plan to support results-driven outcomes and report findings?"

A results-driven project design connects the needs that a project intends to address, its theory of change based on available evidence, and its proposed evidence-informed activities to a framework that explicitly lays out the logical connections for how the project will deliver the intended outcomes, including the required performance outcomes and additional outcomes of interest. By requiring that applicants follow a results-driven process for designing and managing their grant-funded projects, this FOA seeks to ensure that applicants and their project partners identify the data they will need to validate the project’s design. This approach gives successful applicants a process to more systemically assess their progress and performance, and the opportunity to learn from and improve their projects over time based on data that their projects generate over the life of their grant periods.

Applicants must submit the following information, either in the Project Narrative or as separate attachments, as indicated in Section IV.B.3. Project Narrative. Note that the Department encourages applicants to incorporate into the design process the relevant findings from the studies that they cite. The applicant’s design process must include the following components:

a. Logic Model

A logic model is a graphic illustration of the relationship between a program’s resources, activities, and its intended effects. Logic models are effective tools to assist in program planning, implementation, management, evaluation, and reporting. They help define a program’s intended impact and goals; the sequence of intended effects; which activities are to produce which effect; and where to focus outcome and process evaluations. Evidence supports positive connections between program success and the use of logic models (Kellogg Foundation, Appendix D).

Based on the evidence-informed strategies proposed in Core Elements 1, 2, and 4, including the needs identified in the equity gap analysis, applicants will develop a logic model in a concise and clear, two-page diagram. The logic model must provide a clear depiction of the proposed strategic approach(es) through a system components table and a theory of change rooted in available evidence. See Appendix D for more information on developing a logic model. Applicants must submit the logic model as an attachment, which does not count against the page limits for the Project Narrative.

Project implementers and their partners should use the logic model in tracking progress made toward the achievement of project outputs and outcomes. In addition, as part of their required third-party evaluation, grantees are expected to work with their third-party evaluators to finalize their research questions and further refine and develop their logic model after the grants have been awarded.

b. Performance Outcomes and Grantee Accountability

All applicants must identify and define five customized performance outcomes to be used with their project, three that address key capacity-building goals and two that address key equity goals. See Section IV.B.3.(b)(2). To further quantify the benefits of SCC2 capacity-building initiatives, grantees will also be required to track participant outputs related to enrollment in and completion of a program of study, and credentials earned, for a cohort of students. However, applicants are not required to set participant targets, nor will grantees be required to track employment-related outcomes, as DOL will rely on the Common Reporting Information System (CRIS) for the latter. See Section IV.B.3.(b)(3) Participant Tracking Plan and Section VI.C.

Reporting.

Please note that the applicant’s five customized performance outcomes, and the related outputs, key milestones, and deliverables in the work plan scored elsewhere, form the basis of the Department’s assessment of grantee performance. The Department will review these outcomes, outputs, milestones, and deliverables on a quarterly basis for technical assistance purposes, and annually for monitoring and compliance purposes. Grantees will report customized outcomes using the Quarterly Narrative Report. See Section VI.C for information on this DOL reporting requirement. It is allowable for the grantee’s required third-party evaluator to assist grantees in documenting outcomes. However, the grantee remains fully responsible for the reporting requirements.

c. Project Work Plan

Applicants must present a comprehensive project work plan. A sample format can be found in Appendix H. The project work plan must demonstrate a cohesive, well-designed approach to implementing the project.

4. Core Element 4: Sustainable Systems Change

In determining a project design for this Announcement, applicants will need to ask themselves, “How can we ensure that the systems changes we make are institutionalized and sustained over the long term? What does the available evidence say about the strategies that will more likely lead to sustainable systems change?”

“Sustainable systems change alters a sufficient number of key drivers (incentives, rules, etc.) such that the system that once perpetuated a ‘problem’ now instead perpetuates a ‘solution.’ This has implications on the way projects are designed and implemented.”

- Woltering, L. et al. 2019, Appendix E

Systems change with respect to workforce development refers to “efforts and initiatives that go beyond providing direct services to individual jobseekers and aim to transform how organizations effectively support employers and the workforce” (Bernstein & Martin-Caughey 2017, p. 1, Appendix E). A key lesson from TAACCCT is that “embedding collaboration as a core element of an initiative” can help community colleges implement their systems change and capacity-building efforts (Eyster et al. 2020, p. xiii, Appendix B). Primary stakeholders in this collaboration include industry and employers, the public workforce development system, other institutions of higher education, unions, labor-management organizations, community-based organizations, and the departments and offices internal to community colleges.

Sustainable systems change within the context of this FOA reflects targeted change to key drivers within career pathway programs and their connected systems/subsystems that ensures equitable access and outcomes to quality jobs. Given the critical role that employers and the workforce development system play in innovative and sustainable career pathway programs and systems, this FOA requires that both sets of stakeholders serve as required partners.

All applicants must address in their Project Narrative how they intend to sustain built capacity and systems change which advances equity through the proposed SCC2 grant. [11] Built capacity and systems change include strategic accomplishments or innovations such as program designs, policy changes, and partnerships, and may include new approaches to employer engagement, new ways of supporting students, and new methods of instructional design and delivery. The narrative must also demonstrate how the grantee will sustain the capacity built through the engagement and buy-in of state and local partners. Note that accomplishments or innovations that support a broader agenda—in particular, those that align with the strategic priorities of the institution, the state, and other community college reform efforts—have a greater likelihood of being sustained.

B. PROGRAM AUTHORITY

Section 169(c) of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) authorizes this program. See also Title I of Division H of Pub. L. 116-260, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, December 27, 2020.

C. ALLOWABLE ACTIVITIES

A wide range of activities may assist applicants in their efforts to close equity gaps in addressing the skill development needs of employers and workers. This section provides examples of activities that the Department considers allowable under the FOA, provided that they relate directly to grant objectives. That is, for costs associated with an activity to be allowable, the grantee must undertake the activity in relation to a grant-funded program of study, and the activity must have a clear connection to strategies to support success that are related to the grant’s identified equity gaps and to student employment outcomes.

The Department anticipates that the majority of applicants will include the five specific types of allowable activities under Overarching Capacity-Building Activities.

Overarching Capacity-Building Activities

1. Hiring and/or training instructors or staff (including the costs of salaries and benefits) to assist in the development and/or delivery of new or adapted curricula, development of online and distance learning, and the establishment of internships, clinical/cooperative education programs, or Registered Apprenticeships at employer sites (note that Registered Apprenticeships are allowable with these grant funds, but unregistered apprenticeships are not).

2. Purchasing or upgrading classroom supplies and equipment (with prior approval of the grant officer) and/or educational technologies that will contribute to the instructional purpose in education and training courses supported by the grant.

3. Activities to support implementing changes in the time or scheduling of courses and any associated costs.

4. Activities to support implementing data integration tools and any associated costs.

5. Activities necessary to support the required third-party evaluation and any associated costs.

Other allowable activities include, but are not limited to, the following:

Reviewing and Adjusting Policies and Practices

Analyzing institutional data to assess student inequities and identify gaps in student success, and to inform the development of interventions to improve equity (e.g., using the Office of Community College Research and Leadership’s comprehensive local needs assessment tool). [12]

Reviewing recruitment and admission practices with respect to equity.

Redesigning advising policies to support marginalized students as they decide on a career field and program of study.

Examining the extent to which faculty and staff demographics reflect those of their students, and using that data to promote diversity in hiring.

Engaging project staff or faculty in facilitated professional development with internal or external subject matter experts (e.g., facilitated partnerships and learning opportunities between career pathways staff and faculty, using the college’s center for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility).

Developing Comprehensive Student Supports

Expanding and improving the capacity of student services that directly support the goals of the grant (for example, career guidance programs or navigators).

Where leveraged funds are not available, implementing and sustaining longer-term solutions for providing students with navigators that can assist them with financial, career, and academic plans (which, evidence shows, are critical to supporting first-generation and economically disadvantaged students toward completion, employment, and retention).

Curriculum Development

Using subject matter experts from industry, education, state workforce agency, labor market and economic research entities, and other areas to inform and assist in curriculum design, including online course design.

Accessing timely labor market information, as it relates to identifying labor market demand, skills transferability, and current and projected job openings.

Developing learning resources and other openly licensed educational resources, preparing resources for ADA compliance and affixing the CC BY 4.0 attribution license to them (see Section IV.E.4), and making them publicly available for use and adaptation via a public dissemination platform.

Adapting existing industry-recognized curricula to support direct education and training provided through the grant.

Obtaining accreditation for employer- and/or industry-recognized credentials.

Preparing and posting grant-funded curriculum and materials as Open Educational

Resources to meet FOA requirements.

Making information about credentials and competencies developed or delivered with grant funds publicly accessible using linked open data formats that support full transparency and interoperability to meet FOA requirements.

Note that, wherever possible, grantees are required to leverage and adapt the curricula that TAACCCT program grantees developed as open educational resources so that the Department does not pay for duplicative development of programs of study. These resources are found at https://www.skillscommons.org/; grantees are specifically encouraged to review the open courseware resources at https://support.skillscommons.org/showcases/open-courseware/.

Program Design and Continuous Improvement

Designing innovative programs that incorporate a deep understanding of the customer experience for employers and workers in order to improve customer experience and outcomes.

Engaging in other program development activities, such as using subject matter experts from industry, education, and other areas to assist in program design and delivery;

Leveraging and aligning existing federal resources to ensure that efforts can move from planning to implementation to sustainable systems change.

Developing, implementing, and/or maintaining a tech-enabled mechanism to collect ongoing feedback from employers and job seekers about the quality of the training program, how well the training program meets the needs of employers and participants, and any necessary updates to the education and program training throughout the project.

Developing staff and infrastructure capacity to acquire, organize, and/or analyze program data for continuous improvement and program evaluation.

Minor alterations to adjust an existing space for grant activities (such as a classroom alteration), in accordance with the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost https://www.skillscommons.org/ https://support.skillscommons.org/showcases/open-courseware/

Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards located at 2 CFR part 200 and DOL specific requirements at 2 CFR part 2900.

Partner Collaboration

Conducting outreach to potential stakeholders.

Establishing or strengthening collaborative partnerships, networks, and organizational structures, including expanding staff resources as necessary to successfully collaborate with partners and to manage the process and plan development, including partnerships for credit transfer and articulation agreements.

Developing and implementing working agreements with key systems stakeholders.

Developing and implementing effective and regular external and internal communications among planning partners.

Developing and implementing articulation agreements with colleges, universities, and other education and training partners that allow for recognition of course credits in exchange for the education and/or training provided

Sharing grant learnings with other colleges.

Technology-Enabled Learning

Implementing and/or enhancing the information technology infrastructure used to provide education, training, and related activities, whether virtual or in-person.

Deploying technology intensively to create competency-based, self-paced, skills-based learning, and making interactive resources, such as simulations and videos, widely accessible.

Using educational software and online, diagnostic tools to support remediation, basic skills training, and contextualized learning, and to help students succeed in their coursework.

Delivering personalized and adaptive instruction that builds on student interests and prior knowledge.

Providing interactive tools that improve the ability of educators to predict whether students are at risk of dropping out or failing courses, and to help provide early intervention; and developing educational software that is effective as a personal tutor.

Using software tools to implement virtual student services to support career and academic planning. For example, colleges working closely with the workforce development system may incorporate online career planning assessment tools into their advising process to create individualized career plans for participants.

Providing open access to computer labs that maintain flexible hours of operation to accommodate student schedules.

Expanding professional development…