Welfare-to-Work Grants to States and Localities

The Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration administered the Welfare-to-Work Grants to States and Localities program (CFDA 17.253), with the most recent grant award issued on September 29, 2005. This program is inactive; no grant opportunities are currently open, and no awards have been issued in the past 21 years.

The program funded welfare-to-work initiatives through grants to states and localities. Recent awards supported competitive grants and formula grants to states designated as welfare-to-work formula or competitive grant recipients. Representative awards include formula grants to states for welfare-to-work formula grants (such as a $19.5 million award in 2003) and competitive grants supporting specific welfare-to-work initiatives (ranging from several hundred thousand dollars to smaller targeted awards).

The program operated predominantly through Formula Grants, which represented 70 percent of the 189 total awards, with Project Grants comprising 30 percent. All 189 awards across the program's history from 1997 to 2005 were funded exclusively by the Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration. The portfolio shows heaviest activity in 2003, when 69 awards were issued, followed by declining volume in 2004 and 2005 (3 awards each year).

The portfolio's reported federal dollars obligated total negative $261.3 million, reflecting data-quality issues in the source records; individual awards from the 2003–2005 period ranged from single-dollar or near-zero amounts to awards exceeding $19 million. Award completion dates typically fell within twelve to twenty-four months of issuance.

No recent grant opportunities exist under this program. Given the absence of award activity for over two decades and no posted solicitations, this program should be treated as closed to new applicants.