FOA-ETA-24-08.pdf

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

ANNOUNCEMENT FOR: Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities (WORC) Round 6:

A Grant Initiative for the Appalachian, Delta, and Northern Border Regions

ANNOUNCEMENT TYPE: Initial

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY NUMBER: FOA-ETA-24-08

CATALOG OF FEDERAL DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE (CFDA) NUMBER: 17.280

KEY DATES: The closing date for receipt of applications under this Announcement is 06/20/2024. 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.

Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

A. PROGRAM PURPOSE

B. PROGRAM AUTHORITY

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

APPENDIX B

APPENDIX C

APPENDIX D

APPENDIX E

APPENDIX F

APPENDIX G

APPENDIX H

APPENDIX I

APPENDIX J

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL, or the Department, or we), announces the availability of approximately $49,200,000 in grant funds authorized by the by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) for the sixth round of Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities (WORC) Initiative grants.

The funding, as described in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Pub. L. 117-328), will fund projects supporting rural communities in aligning workforce development efforts with economic development plans, serving the following areas hard-hit by economic transition and recovering slowly:

• The Appalachian region, as defined in 40 U.S.C. 14102(a)(1),

• The Lower Mississippi Delta (Delta) region, as defined in 7 U.S.C. 2009aa(2), and

• The Northern Border region, as defined in 40 U.S.C. 15733.

The WORC Initiative provides funding to eligible applicants proposing projects that address the employment and training needs of the local and regional workforce, created in collaboration with community partners and aligned with existing economic and workforce development plans and strategies.

Successful applicants will demonstrate clear strategies to provide needed career, training, and support services to eligible individuals in counties, parishes, or areas currently underserved by other resources, particularly individuals from historically marginalized communities, so they may secure good jobs in stable, high-demand occupations.

Due to unique experiences and circumstances facing communities across the three targeted regions, the WORC Initiative partners—the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), the Delta Regional Authority (DRA), and the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC)—will provide technical assistance to prospective applicants in their respective regions, as well as assistance and support to grantees throughout the life of the initiative, including through sharing of promising practices, curricula and resources developed by existing grantees. Potential applicants are encouraged to visit www.arc.gov, www.dra.gov, or www.nbrc.gov for more information, including dates and locations for pre-application technical assistance meetings.

I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

A. PROGRAM PURPOSE

This announcement solicits applications for WORC Initiative grants serving the Appalachian, Delta, and Northern Border regions.

The purpose of the WORC Initiative grants is to create economic mobility, address historic inequities for marginalized communities of color, rural areas, and other underserved and underrepresented communities, and connect workers who live or work in the Appalachian, Delta, and Northern Border regions, to stable, high-quality, family-sustaining jobs, enabling them to remain and thrive in these communities.

The authorities (see Section I.B. below) for WORC direct the Department to fund projects relating to the employment and training needs of workers in the ARC, DRA, and NBRC counties and parishes (also referred to in this FOA as the “WORC region” for brevity). Accordingly, based on the needs of workers in the WORC region, a paramount goal of WORC Round 6 is funding projects that increase access to stable, high-quality, family-sustaining jobs for workers in the WORC region, including those in critical sectors such as infrastructure and clean energy.

Improving access to these Good Jobs will enable these workers to remain within the WORC region. This focus also is consistent with the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to expand access to quality jobs, as defined by the Good Jobs Principles, a shared Federal vision of job quality published by the Departments of Labor and Commerce, and the Rural Partners Network, an all-of-government program that connects rural communities with resources and funding to create jobs, build infrastructure, and support long-term economic mobility.

Good Jobs, for the purposes of this grant program, include those that align with the eight Good Jobs Principles; see Appendix A for the full list of the Good Jobs Principles as well as examples of strategies addressing each principle. The Good Jobs Principles describe the elements of family-sustaining work, including pay, which the “Pay” Good Jobs Principle describes as “a stable and predictable living wage before overtime, tips, and commissions” and transparent and equitable wages that rise with increased skills and experience.

Consistent with the “Pay” Good Jobs Principle, this funding opportunity requires applicants to connect and prepare workers for job opportunities paying at least $15 per hour, for reasons described in more detail in Appendix C. The WORC regions are home to a range of industry sectors including ones with career pathways into high-wage jobs, and a wellspring of talent.

This grant seeks to also respond to concerns in the regions in regard to the need to reduce barriers to rural workers accessing higher-wage job opportunities. Among these barriers are child and dependent care, transportation, and access to healthcare and behavioral healthcare.

WORC Initiative Focus Areas

The Department, in coordination with the three WORC Initiative partner regional commissions, has developed this funding announcement to solicit and fund projects that achieve the WORC purpose. To do so, the Department expects that successful applicants will propose projects that http://www.arc.gov http://www.dra.gov http://www.nbrc.gov https://www.dol.gov/general/good-jobs/principles https://www.rural.gov/ https://www.rural.gov/ address the identified needs of residents, employers, and communities by designing strategies for aligning workforce training and support services, along with other appropriate activities that are designed to:

• Ensure that residents can attain good job outcomes;

• Prioritize outreach to and enrollment of marginalized individuals or groups; and

• Provide benefits to the community and workers that continue after the end of the WORC grant period.

These three tenets are called the WORC Initiative “Focus Areas.”

Projects under this announcement will demonstrate clear and consistent strategies, activities, partnerships, and results that are built around the three Focus Areas that are central to achieving the purpose of the WORC initiative: Increasing access to good jobs, prioritizing equity, and sustaining impact.

Focus Area 1: Increasing Access to Good Jobs

The first Focus Area is increasing access to Good Jobs. Applicants must demonstrate how they are integrating the Good Jobs Principles into their workforce strategies, including training design, employer partnerships, and supportive services.

All applications must specifically address:

1. The “Pay” Good Jobs Principle by proposing strategies or activities that connect workers residing in the WORC region with training or employment opportunities in industry sectors that pay wages of at least $15 per hour (see Appendix C for background information related to this wage requirement). Applicants must ensure they connect participants to partner employers that pay at least $15 per hour for any work-based training funded by or reimbursed by grant funds.

Examples of strategies that could meet this pay rate requirement include, but are not limited to:

• Using grant funds to provide participants with comprehensive and appropriate supportive services (see Section III.C.4.b of this Announcement for detailed information on supportive services as defined by WIOA) that address the barriers that often prohibit rural workers from obtaining or retaining jobs that applicant has verified pay at least $15 per hour. For example, an applicant could propose to use grant funds to arrange childcare or dependent care slots at a provider for participants receiving work-based training (as defined in Section III.C.4.a of this Announcement) or organize regular transportation for apprentices to reach construction worksites.

• Reimbursing costs of partner employers who pay participants in work-based learning opportunities. For purposes of this grant, these reimbursements are only available for employers that pay at least $15 per hour for such opportunities.

• Developing Registered Apprenticeships or labor-management partnerships where participants earn a starting wage of at least $15 per hour.

2. One or more of the remaining seven Good Jobs Principles, through proposed grant strategies and activities, that will support WORC region workers’ access to stable, family-sustaining employment.

Applicants may address more than two, and it is the goal of this grant program that successful applicants will continue to address job quality, furthering all eight principles, through post-grant sustainability planning. Examples of approaches to address the Good Jobs Principles, which are meant to be illustrative rather than prescriptive, can be found in Appendix A.

The Department urges applicants to develop projects or strategies that connect participants to employment opportunities created by or related to the generational investments in infrastructure and communities created through the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda.

Focus Area 2: Prioritizing Equity

The second Focus Area of the WORC Initiative is equity. For the WORC Initiative, this means that successful applicants will design programs that prioritize efforts to recruit, enroll, and help employ historically underserved workers adversely affected by persistent poverty, discrimination, or inequality, including, but not limited to, Black, Indigenous, people of color;

LGBTQ+ individuals; women; veterans; individuals with disabilities; individuals without a college degree; individuals with substance use disorder; and justice-impacted individuals.

Examples of activities that might address the “equity” Focus Area are included in Appendix B.

Focus Area 3: Sustaining Impact

The final Focus Area of the WORC Initiative is to ensure that grants are designed to sustain positive impacts for individuals, businesses and community(ies) even after the end of the grant period.

The positive impacts of a project can manifest in various ways depending on the nature and purpose of the project, including but not limited to social impacts (access to basic services/the reduction of social inequalities), economic impacts (highlighting job quality which drives equity), environmental impacts, cultural impacts (preservation or promotion of cultural identity and heritage), or supporting efforts to align services across multiple counties or states.

Applicants must identify one or more positive impacts that their proposed project will achieve and demonstrate how such impacts will be sustainable over the five years following the end of the WORC grant period of performance.

Examples of activities that might address the “sustaining impact” Focus Area are included in Appendix B.

The Biden-Harris Administration has established the Justice40 Initiative, which aims to ensure that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution. The U.S.

Department of Labor has designated the WORC Initiative as a Justice40 covered grant program.

The White House Council on Environmental Quality developed a Climate and Justice Screening Tool that includes a map of all Census tracts that meet the Justice40 criteria to be deemed https://www.whitehouse.gov/invest/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/environmentaljustice/justice40/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/ceq/news-updates/2022/11/22/biden-harris-administration-launches-version-1-0-of-climate-and-economic-justice-screening-tool-key-step-in-implementing-president-bidens-justice40-initiative/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/ceq/news-updates/2022/11/22/biden-harris-administration-launches-version-1-0-of-climate-and-economic-justice-screening-tool-key-step-in-implementing-president-bidens-justice40-initiative/ https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/en/ disadvantaged. Many communities across the communities covered by the WORC Initiative meet the criteria for a “distressed” designation, a term defined by the regional commissions, but for purposes of the WORC Initiative is synonymous with the term “disadvantaged” and thus in alignment with the principles of Justice40. As appropriate, applicants are encouraged to include distressed communities in their WORC applications.

B. PROGRAM AUTHORITY

WIOA sec. 169(c), as well as the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Pub. L. 117-328, Div.

H), authorizes this program.

II. AWARD INFORMATION

A. AWARD TYPE AND AMOUNT

Funding will be provided in the form of a grant.

We expect availability of approximately $49.2 million to fund approximately 35 grants. You may apply for a minimum award of $150,000 and a maximum amount of up to $1,500,000.

Awards made under this Announcement are subject to the availability of federal funds. If additional funds become available, we reserve the right to use such funds to select additional grantees from applications submitted in response to this Announcement.

B. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance is 36 months with an anticipated start date of 09/30/2024. This performance period includes all necessary implementation and start-up activities.

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

A. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

The following organizations are eligible to apply:

• State governments

• County governments

• City or township governments

• State or Local Workforce Development Boards

• Special district governments

• Independent school districts

• State or local education agencies

• Public and State controlled institutions of higher education

• Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)

• Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities

• Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments) https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/en/

• Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education

• Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education

• Private institutions of higher education

• Labor unions, worker organizations, or labor-management partnerships

• Hispanic-Serving Institutions

• Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

• Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs)

• Minority-Serving Nonprofits

WORC applications are expected to include proposed activities designed to create, improve, or sustain employment opportunities based upon addressing specific workforce needs in the proposed project area(s). Therefore, applicants must demonstrate collaboration with a strong and diverse community-wide coalition that includes:

• At least two employers/industry representatives;

• At least one State or Local Workforce Development Board, American Job Center operator or partner program, (except where such organization is the applicant); and

• At least one community-based organization (except where such organization is the applicant) serving an area or areas covered by the proposed project to ensure that local input is part of the planning and execution of the grant, such as the Rural Partners Network Community Networks-affiliated organizations.

See Section IV.B.3.c.ii for more information on how this information can be included in an application.

Applicants must identify their institution type in Section 9 of the SF-424 Application for Federal Assistance. Please note that all elements of 2 CFR Part 200 (Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards) and 2 CFR Part 2900 (DOL’s Supplement to 2 CFR Part 200) apply to any entity that carries out a federal award as a recipient or subrecipient. This includes the monitoring and examination of their records. In addition, the entity may not earn or keep any profit resulting from federal financial assistance.

The applicant will serve as the grant recipient, must be the organization specified in Section 8 of the SF-424 Application Form, and will be: (1) the primary contact with the Department to receive and respond to all inquiries or communications under this FOA and any subsequent grant award; (2) the entity with authority to withdraw or draw down funds through the Department of Health and Human Services – Payment Management System (HHS-PMS); (3) the entity responsible for submitting to the Department all deliverables under the grant, including all programmatic, technical and financial reports related to the project, regardless of which partnership member performed the work; (4) the entity that may request or agree to a revision or amendment of the grant agreement or statement of work; (5) the entity with overall responsibility for carrying out the programmatic functions of the grant, as well as for the stewardship of all expenditures under the grant; (6) the entity responsible for coordinating with the national evaluator, including participating in an evaluation and other studies, if selected by DOL; and (7) the entity responsible for working with DOL to close out the grant.

https://www.rural.gov/community-networks

It is the expectation of the Department that the applicant has the organizational capacity to carry out the programmatic functions of the grant, and the Department strongly discourages applications that result in “pass-through” grants (i.e., where the applicant sub-awards the majority of grant funds and operational activities to one or several subrecipients).

B. COST SHARING OR MATCHING

This program does not require cost sharing or matching funds. Including such funds is not one of the application screening criteria and applications that include any form of cost sharing or match will not receive additional consideration during the review process. Instead, the agency considers any resources contributed to the project beyond the funds provided by the agency as leveraged resources. Section IV.B.2 provides more information on leveraged resources.

C. OTHER INFORMATION

1. Application Screening Criteria

The checklist below as a guide we urge you to use when preparing your application package to ensure that the application has met all of the screening criteria. Note that this checklist is only an aid for applicants and should not be included in the application package. The checklist contains all required items. If your application does not meet all of the screening criteria, it will not move forward through the merit review process.

Application Requirement Instructions Complete?

The deadline submission requirements are met. Section IV.C

The applicant eligibility requirements are met. Section III.A

The components of the application are saved in any of the specified formats and are not corrupt. (We will attempt to open the document, but will not take any additional measures in the event of problems with opening.)

Section IV.C.2

The SF-424 includes a federal funds request within the range of $150,000 to $1,500,000, on line 18.a, Estimated

Funding ($), Federal.

Section II.A

SAM Registration is current and reflects Applicant Information identified on SF-424, lines 8.a-d. Section IV.B.1

SF-424, Application for Federal Assistance, is submitted. Section IV.B.1

SF-424 includes a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). Section IV.B.1

SF-424 includes designation of ARC, DRA or NBRC Region, the primary region under which the application should be considered, on line 15, Descriptive Title of Applicant's Project.

Section IV.B.4.a.

and Section

III.C.1.

SF-424A, Budget Information Form, is submitted. Section IV.B.2

Budget Narrative is submitted. Section IV.B.2

Project Narrative is submitted. Section IV.B.3

The applicant must include the Federal funding request within the range of $150,000 to $1,500,000, on line 18.a on the SF-424. The Federal funding request must reflect the total amount for the full period of performance. Amounts included on separate lines or forms will not be considered.

The applicant information provided in section 8 of the SF-424 must exactly match the applicant's legal name, address, EIN, and contact information listed on their SAM.gov registration. The applicant must include a point of contact for the project (other than the Authorized Representative) on line 8f on the SF-424.

The applicant must also include a "regional designation" on line 15 of the SF-424. This designation identifies the region, either the Appalachian, Delta, or Northern Border, with which the proposed project aligns. If the project area covers counties/parishes or communities located within more than one of these regional areas, the applicant must select just one region—the Appalachian, Delta, or the Northern Border region—as applications will be reviewed and funded based upon these regional designations.

2. Number of Applications Applicants May Submit

We will consider only one application from each organization. If we receive multiple applications from the same organization, we will consider only the most recently received application that met the deadline. If the most recent application is disqualified for any reason, we will not replace it with an earlier application.

3. Eligible Participants

Applicants must propose a project that enrolls individuals from one or more of the following three targeted categories: new entrants to the workforce, dislocated workers, and/or incumbent workers. The definitions for each category are as follows:

New Entrants to the Workforce: For the purposes of this FOA, the category of “new entrants to the workforce” refers to those who have never worked before or who have been out of the workforce for a long enough time to make it as if they are entering the workforce for the first time. For example, this may include, but is not limited to, the long-term unemployed, formerly incarcerated individuals, caregivers returning to the workforce, and new Americans such as refugees or immigrants. Also eligible, consistent with Federal and state wage and employment laws, are youth who are enrolled in high school and are currently eligible or will be eligible to be employed during or within six months after the end of the grant period, or youth who have dropped out of school and are seeking their first full-time job.

Dislocated Workers: For the purposes of this FOA, this term refers to the definition found at Section 3(15) of WIOA. This definition can be found beginning on the bottom of page 7 of the WIOA public law at https://www.congress.gov/113/plaws/publ128/PLAW-113publ128.pdf (PL 113-128, 128 STAT. 1425 at 1428). The term generally means someone who was laid off, let go, or lost their job through no fault of their own. Applicants can also work with a local American Job Center or other public workforce development entity that frequently interprets and applies this definition.

Incumbent Workers: For the purposes of this FOA, this term refers to individuals who are employed but need employment and training services to secure full-time employment, advance in their careers, or retain their employment. This could include workers who are “under-employed” based on wages or other factors who would benefit from upgrading their skills to retain employment or advance in their careers, and workers who are currently working part-time.

Grant recipients or a designated partner must establish and document the eligibility of all participants, including incumbent worker participants, and must maintain the necessary records to support grant monitoring.

Within these eligible participant categories (new entrants, dislocated workers, and incumbent workers), applicants must prioritize historically marginalized populations and communities within the local or regional economic area served by the grant, including women, people of color, justice-involved individuals, individuals with disabilities, veterans, individuals with Limited English Proficiency, individuals with a history of substance dependency or other behavioral health conditions, or other populations who will benefit from improved job quality and career advancement opportunities. Applicants may wish to review the Biden-Harris Administration’s Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities through the Federal Government for additional information on ways to define or identify historically-marginalized populations or communities that a project proposes to prioritize.

Applicants must demonstrate that they will only enroll eligible participants who live or work in the Appalachian, Delta, or Northern Border regions. Applicants may train eligible participants for jobs that are located outside of the regions, including remote work, so long as the applicant clearly demonstrates that employment in these occupations will not require participants to relocate outside the region. Such jobs must clearly align with the overall intent of the grant application and the statement of need.

Veterans’ Priority for Participants

38 U.S.C. 4215 requires grantees to provide priority of service to veterans and spouses of certain veterans for the receipt of employment, training, and placement services in any job training program directly funded, in whole or in part, by DOL. The regulations implementing this priority of service are at 20 CFR Part 1010. In circumstances where a grant recipient must choose between two qualified candidates for a service, one of whom is a veteran or eligible spouse, the veterans’ priority of service provisions require that the grant recipient give the veteran or eligible spouse priority of service by first providing him or her that service. To obtain priority of service, a veteran or spouse must meet the program’s eligibility requirements.

https://www.congress.gov/113/plaws/publ128/PLAW-113publ128.pdf https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal-government/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal-government/

Grantees must comply with DOL guidance on veterans’ priority. ETA’s Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) No. 10-09 (issued November 10, 2009) provides guidance on implementing priority of service for veterans and eligible spouses in all qualified job training programs funded in whole or in part by DOL. TEGL No. 10-09 is available at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/advisories/training-and-employment-guidance-letter-no-10-09.

The priority for veterans and eligible spouses is a requirement that applies when enrolling participants into an ETA-funded grant, and applies to all awarded grants. It is not a scoring criterion for this FOA.

4. Allowable Activities All WORC grants will be expected to enroll, and submit performance reporting for, eligible participants; applicants may propose to utilize funding sources other than WORC to provide allowable services to grant participants, but in such cases, participants must meet the eligibility criteria, and activities must be allowable, under the terms of the FOA.

Applicants may propose projects that include any of the following types of activities:

a. Training and Other Employment-Related Activities

Workforce training strategies must be designed to enable the grant to achieve the purpose of the WORC Initiative. Allowable training approaches include, but are not limited to:

• Work-based training such as Registered Apprenticeships, customized training programs, incumbent worker training, on-the-job training, or internships as defined in WIOA, which can be found in ETA’s Training and Employment Guidance Letter No. 19-16; or

• Traditional classroom or virtual training.

Other allowable employment-related activities include, but are not limited to:

• In-depth participant assessment and evaluation to identify employment barriers and develop individual employment plans;

• Career planning including using labor market information to help participants select training and careers that lead to family-sustaining wages and benefits, job coaching, and job matching services; and

• Employability skills training.

Training costs must be fully covered under the project (including via leveraged resources where applicable) and may not result in debt (including student loan debt) to the participant. In addition, stipends may be provided to encourage enrollment and retain participation in training or other program activities such as Registered Apprenticeships, paid internships, or other. Stipends must be supported by a policy in place that employs sound management practices and adheres to consistent and equitable treatment. The policy should describe the frequency and value in which the payments will be issued, how participants are deemed eligible for stipends, and the types of supporting documentation or other information will be required, as applicable.

Applicants are encouraged to work with a local American Job Center or other workforce system partner who can advise on implementing planned activities in accordance with the requirements of the law.

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/advisories/training-and-employment-guidance-letter-no-10-09 https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/advisories/training-and-employment-guidance-letter-no-19-16

b. Supportive Services for Grant Participants

The WORC Initiative is designed to help residents of the WORC region to obtain or retain Good Jobs, and in addition to providing valuable training and employment-related activities, applicants are encouraged to propose robust, creative, and thoughtful supportive service strategies that address the needs of rural workers and assist in fulfilling the three Focus Areas of this funding opportunity.

Supportive services include activities or resources that enable individuals to participate in career and training services or other grant activities, or to gain or retain employment. Grant recipients are encouraged to offer necessary supportive services directly or through partner organizations.

Generally, supportive services are customized to meet the specific needs of an individual to help enable them to participate in or complete a workforce development program. Such supportive services may include, but are not limited to:

• Assistance with transportation, child or dependent care, or housing;

• Behavioral health counseling or other mental health services;

• Assistance with uniforms or other appropriate work attire and work-related tools, safety equipment, and other items;

• Assistance with laptops or tablets, books, fees, school supplies, and other necessary items for students enrolled in training, work-based learning, or other elements of the proposed grant project;

• Payments and fees for employment and training-related applications, tests, and certifications;

• Workforce strategies addressing substance use disorder such as, but not limited to, recovery coaches, job/career coaches, and health navigator services;

• Defraying some of the cost of an employer’s reasonable accommodations and/or costs related to direct service professionals who provide assistance to persons with disabilities

• Financial counseling; and

• Emergency assistance to cover costs that interfere in successful participation in training or employment.

All supportive services provided must be aligned with a policy that employs sound management practices and ensures consistent and equitable treatment. The policy should describe how the grant recipient or sub-recipients will assess participant need for supportive services, the frequency or value of such services, and what supporting documentation or other information will be required, where applicable.

c. Employer Services

Applicants are encouraged to provide services to local employers, particularly small and medium-sized employers, to help them in a wide range of areas including improving the quality of jobs, adopting more competitive wage scales, establishing more predictable work schedules, examining how benefits may be offered, creating opportunities for advancement, advising employers on how to adhere to nondiscrimination laws, and adopting practices that enable worker perspectives to be included in or influence the development of policies and decisions made in their workplace.

Applicants are also encouraged to provide services to employers that already offer good jobs, including those with family-sustaining wages, benefits, opportunities for advancement, and worker voice, to enhance their economic success, growth, or sustainability. This can most easily be accomplished by coordinating with local business services teams at American Job Centers or other local business and economic development partners. Efforts may focus on individual employers or have an industry-based approach for clusters or sectors, and may include activities such as: providing technical assistance materials to support job quality or ensure compliance with nondiscrimination laws; designing/disseminating tool kits and training for employers to develop standards/processes for substance-use disorder or misuse recovery-friendly workplaces or to implement job accommodations to meet the needs of current or future employees;

establishing peer coaching, counseling, and worksite mentoring programs; creating, expanding, or enhancing Registered Apprenticeships, internships, and other work experiences, including subsidies of apprentice and intern wages.

d. Strategic Planning Activities

The success and sustainable impacts of WORC grants may be increased through alignment of community, state, and Federal workforce and economic development plans and strategies, and such activities are allowed under these grants, including but not limited to state or local workforce plans and community networks, such as the Rural Partners Network.[1]

Strategic planning activities may assess the economic landscape to identify new or growing employment opportunities in high-quality jobs, including those which offer family-sustaining wages, benefits, career advancement opportunities and worker voice. Strategic planning processes also involve convening partnerships and assets from across the economic and social spectrum of the community(ies) covered by a proposed project, and may include the workforce development system, industry, community colleges, labor unions and labor-management partnerships, nonprofit community organizations and other stakeholders. Ensuring community involvement in strategic planning is a critically important way to create more inclusive grant activities and more equitable project outcomes.

Examples of strategic planning activities that WORC applicants may propose include, but are not limited to:

• Convening Community Partners and Leaders: Organizing a comprehensive group of leaders and partners representing major economic, workforce, education and other community assets and organizations, and companies, research institutions, investors, philanthropists, and labor unions and other worker organizations, and workers, to ensure that all relevant stakeholders have a voice in the project’s success. To ensure that workers have a voice in the future of the region, impacted workers and organizations representing impacted workers in the grant area should be encouraged and supported to actively participate.

• Developing a Vision: Efforts to achieve sustainable, equitable economic transformation are more successful when they feature a community-led approach that develops a shared vision for the future.

• Conducting Data Analysis: WORC funds may be used to obtain and analyze economic and workforce information, carry out asset mapping, conduct an objective analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and more; and

• Identifying Resources and Opportunities for Sustainability: Developing a plan that supports the identification of resources needed to ensure that the activities, impacts and benefits of a WORC grant may be sustained beyond the life of the grant funding.

Applicants may propose to expend no more than 50% of their grant award, or $100,000, of a grant award, whichever is less, on planning activities that support a broader implementation plan for a WORC grant.

e. Purchasing Equipment and Making Renovations

Capital expenditures, such as the purchase of equipment or capital improvements, are allowable with prior approval from the Grant Officer, provided they directly facilitate or address the employment and training needs of enrolled grant participants, including those described in the Focus Areas, as well as needs of dislocated or other workers in the communities served by the proposed project. These expenditures must follow the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements at 2 CFR Part 200, and the DOL supplemental requirements at 2 CFR Part 2900. For capital expenditures and equipment, see 2 CFR 200.439.

Following a WORC grant award, a grantee must seek and receive written prior approval from the Grant Officer in a subsequent modification request for all equipment purchases and renovations.

The modification must demonstrate how these purchases and renovations will assist in the successful employment and training of participants. Award of a grant under this FOA does not constitute prior written approval of equipment purchase or renovations mentioned in the initial application.

Minor alterations, renovations, or rearrangements of buildings, facilities, or equipment, if specific to the project, are also allowable, provided they facilitate or address the employment and training needs of individuals enrolled in the grant as well as dislocated workers or other workers.

Minor alterations, renovations, or rearrangements may include the activities and associated costs of relocating, modifying, replacing, or adding items (e.g. switches and outlets) related to internal environments (e.g. temperature, humidity, ventilation, and acoustics), and installation of fixed equipment (including fume hoods and audio/visual equipment). This could also include structural improvements or upgrades, including the relocation, modification, retrofitting, or enhancement of interior load-bearing walls or interior floors to accommodate training courses or equipment. This could also include implementing and/or enhancing the information technology infrastructure used to provide education and training and related activities. Following a WORC grant award, a grantee must seek and receive written prior approval from the Grant Officer in a subsequent modification request before expending funds on such activities.

Allowable costs also include leasing space that is used for the grant participant education, training, and related activities, as well as the altering or renovating of such facilities (in accordance with the Federal Cost Principles at 2 CFR Part 200, Subpart E and the DOL supplemental requirements at 2 CFR Part 2900, Subpart E). Allowable renovations include those related to Federal architectural accessibility obligations requiring facilities to be readily accessible to, and usable by, qualified individuals with disabilities.

Following grant award, grantees must submit a subsequent grant modification request to obtain written Grant Officer approval before acquiring equipment or proceeding with proposed capital expenditures, renovation, or alteration of facilities. The Grant Officer must determine that all proposed equipment, capital improvements, and/or alterations and renovation are:

1. Allocable, necessary, and reasonable consistent with the Cost Principles outlined in 2

CFR 200;

2. Tied to specific grant-related deliverables and outcomes outlined in the grantee’s statement of work (SOW), including capacity-building and/or training outcomes;

3. Consistent with the FOA;

4. Aligned with equipment requirements as outlined in 2 CFR Part 200; and

5. Applicants proposing in their SOW to spend grant funds on capital improvements and/or alterations and renovations must demonstrate how these expenditures will support the expansion and/or improvement of their project’s education and training programs addressing the needs of dislocated workers and other needs of workers in the Appalachian, Delta and Northern Border regions.

Prohibited activities with regard to capital expenditures include new construction or property acquisition.

Grantees must complete all activities related to capital expenditures and other alterations within the period of performance of the grant.

All WORC grants will be expected to enroll, and submit performance reporting for, at least one participant; that is, even applicants applying for a small grant and that devote a percentage of their budget to equipment purchases and capital improvements must still enroll participants.

Applicants may propose to utilize funding sources other than WORC to provide allowable services to grant participants, but in such cases, participants must meet the eligibility criteria, and activities must be allowable, under the terms of the FOA. Proposed WORC projects must not exceed 50%, or $100,000, of a grant award, whichever is less, on allowable equipment purchases and renovations.

[1] Locally-led Rural Partner Networks Community Networks help local leaders create partnerships and bring new opportunities and improvements to their communities. View the full list of Community Liaison Staff to learn more.

IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION

INFORMATION

A. HOW TO OBTAIN AN APPLICATION PACKAGE

This FOA, found at www.Grants.gov and https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/grants/apply/find-opportunities contains all of the information and links to forms needed to apply for grant funding.

B. CONTENT AND FORM OF APPLICATION

SUBMISSION

Applications submitted in response to this FOA must consist of four separate and distinct parts:

https://www.rural.gov/sites/default/files/2023-12/USDA-RD-RuralPartners-NetworkCommunity-LiaisonsContact11-20-2023.pdf https://www.rural.gov/sites/default/files/2023-12/USDA-RD-RuralPartners-NetworkCommunity-LiaisonsContact11-20-2023.pdf http://www.Grants.gov https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/grants/apply/find-opportunities https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/grants/apply/find-opportunities

1. SF-424, “Application for Federal Assistance”;

2. Project Budget, composed of the SF-424A and Budget Narrative;

3. Project Narrative; and

4. Attachments to the Project Narrative.

You must ensure that the funding amount requested is consistent across all parts and sub-parts of the application.

1. SF-424, “Application for Federal Assistance”

You must complete the SF-424, “Application for Federal Assistance” (available at https://www.grants.gov/forms/forms-repository/sf-424-family).

• In the address field, fill out the nine-digit (plus hyphen) zip code. Nine-digit zip codes can be looked up on the USPS website at https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction!input.action.

• The organization’s legal name on the SF-424 must match its name registered in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) at www.sam.gov. If unsure of the legal name of your organization, visit www.sam.gov to confirm.

• The organization’s Employer Identification Number (EIN) and Unique Entity Identification (UEI) Number should match its information in www.sam.gov. If unsure of the EIN or UEI of your organization, visit www.sam.gov to confirm.

• The organization's Payment Management System (PMS) EIN Account must be included on line 15 on the SF-424 to identify where funds should be distributed if selected for an award.

• The organization must clearly identify the fiscal agent on line 15 or in a supporting document attachment to line 15 and include the fiscal agent's UEI, EIN, PMS EIN for managing funds, Name, Address, type of organization, and contact information for vetting. The fiscal agent information must match its registered information in SAM.gov.

• The SF-424 must clearly identify the applicant and must be signed by an individual with authority to enter into a grant agreement. Upon confirmation of an award, the individual signing the SF-424 on behalf of the applicant is considered the Authorized Representative of the applicant. As stated in block 21 of the SF-424 form, the signature of the Authorized Representative on the SF-424 certifies that the organization is in compliance with the Assurances and Certifications form SF-424B (available at https://www.grants.gov/forms/forms-repository/sf-424-family). You do not need to submit the SF-424B with the application.

In addition, the applicant’s Authorized Representative’s signature in block 21 of the SF-424 form constitutes assurance by the applicant of compliance with the WIOA 188 rules issued by the Department at 29 CFR 38.25, which includes the following language:

As a condition to the award of financial assistance from the Department of Labor under Title I WIOA, the grant applicant assures that it has the ability to comply fully with the nondiscrimination and equal opportunity provisions of the following laws: Section 188 of the WIOA and its implementing regulations at 29 CFR Part 38, which prohibits discrimination against all individuals in the United States on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including https://www.grants.gov/forms/forms-repository/sf-424-family https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction!input.action http://www.sam.gov http://www.sam.gov http://www.sam.gov http://www.sam.gov https://www.grants.gov/forms/forms-repository/sf-424-family pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, transgender status, and gender identity), national origin (including limited English proficiency), age, disability, political affiliation or belief, and against beneficiaries on the basis of either citizenship or status as a lawfully admitted immigrant authorized to work in the United States, or participation in any WIOA Title I— financially assisted program or activity; Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, which prohibits discrimination on the bases of race, color, and national origin; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, which prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities; The Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of age; and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, as amended, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs.

The grant applicant also assures, that as a recipient of WIOA Title I financial assistance [as defined at 29 CFR 38.4(zz)], it will comply with 29 CFR part 38 and all other regulations implementing the laws listed above. This assurance applies to the grant applicant's operation of the WIOA Title I-financially assisted program or activity, and to all agreements the grant applicant makes to carry out the WIOA Title I-financially assisted program or activity. The grant applicant understands that the United States has the right to seek judicial enforcement of this assurance.

a. Requirement for Unique Entity Identifier

All applicants for federal grant funding must have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and must supply their UEI on the SF-424. The UEI is a 12-character (alpha-numeric) code that uniquely identifies all entities. Any entity registering to do business with the government is required to have one. UEIs are issued by SAM.gov and are a part of an entity's record in the Entity Information section of SAM.gov. If you do not have a UEI, you can get one for free at https://sam.gov.

Grant recipients authorized to make subawards must meet these requirements related to UEI:

• Grant recipients must notify potential subawardees that no entity may receive a subaward unless the entity has provided its UEI.

• Grant recipients may not make a subaward to an entity unless the entity has provided its UEI.

(See Appendix A to 2 CFR Part 25.)

b. Requirement for Registration with SAM

Applicants must register with the System for Award Management (SAM) before submitting an application. Find instructions for registering with SAM at https://www.sam.gov.

A recipient must maintain an active SAM registration with current information at all times during which it has an active federal award or an application under consideration.