Please visit the links below for full details of these grant opportunities.     

• U.S. Department of Education Announces $3 Million In Grants Available to Help Native Youth
  

 http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-announces-3-million-grants-available-help-native-youth

• Health Profession Opportunity Grants to Serve TANF Recipients and Other Low-Income Individuals
  

 http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/open/foa/view/HHS-2015-ACF-OFA-FX-0951

To download the complete Request For Grant Applications (RGA), please visit 
https://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/Notices/View.aspx?id=176230.

The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development (Department), Division of Business Partnerships (Division), is requesting grant applications for participant training projects. Under Title IB of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), the state is authorized to retain 8.75 percent of the federal funds allocated to Alaska. This 8.75 percent may be used for training and employment projects. The goal is to build a trained and prepared workforce for employment in Alaska’s high wage, high growth industries and occupations.

The application is available in EGrAMS, the division’s grants management system. EGrAMS can be accessed through the web at: http://labor.alaska.gov/bp/egrams/. Please review the EGrAMS tutorial, also found on above link, which provides instructions for submitting a grant application.

The Division will host a pre-application teleconference on April 9, 2015 at 10:00 am to answer questions related to this RGA and the EGrAMS process. Participation in this teleconference is not a requirement for submitting an application.

• The teleconference number is 1-800-315-6338 Pass Code: 18820# 
  
• Date of Issue: April 1, 2015
  
• Project Timeline: May 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016
  
• Submission Deadline: 5 p.m. AST on April 17, 2015.
  

The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Division of Business Partnerships is an equal opportunity employer/program. Auxiliary aides and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities. To make arrangements for auxiliary aides or services, please contact the Division of Business Partnerships at (907) 269-4651 no later than ten working days prior to the application deadline. The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development is an Equal Opportunity Employer /Program. All grant recipients or sub-contractors must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Division of Business Partnerships in conjunction with the Alaska Workforce Investment Board (AWIB), requests grant applications for training projects in priority industries under the State Training and Employment Program (STEP).  The STEP is funded by a percentage of the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund and is appropriated to the Division by the Alaska State Legislature.

Organizations with training projects that will upgrade the skills of the local workforce with the latest national and state certifications and competencies in demand by employers in the priority industries are encouraged to apply. Training participants must meet the eligibility requirements of the STEP. 

The full RGA and instructions for applying are on the Alaska Public Notice website at https://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/Notices/View.aspx?id=175901. 

UAA Community and Technical College is offering a grant writing workshop specifically designed for CTE educators. Register by February 9 for this 2-credit professional development opportunity! For more information, contact Kelly Donnelly, 907-786-6364.

Applications are due January 30, 2015 for the Red Boucher Scholarship, which supports outstanding Alaskans pursuing careers in technology education and/or training. For complete details, see the scholarship website at http://alaskacf.org/blog/scholarships/red-boucher-scholarship. 

American Apprenticeship Grants - Applications accepted through April 30, 2015

From the US Department of Labor - 
"The Department of Labor is inviting public-private partnerships to apply for grants to develop and implement innovative, high-quality registered apprenticeship programs. Up to $100 million in grants will be financed by a user fee paid by employers to hire foreign workers into the United States under the H-1B nonimmigrant visa program. This grant competition will help more Americans become apprentices, a proven path to quality employment and the middle class: 87 percent of apprentices are employed after completing their programs and the average starting wage for apprenticeship graduates is over $50,000. The American Apprenticeship Grants competition will focus on public-private partnerships between employers, business associations, joint labor-management organizations, labor organizations, training providers, community colleges, local and state governments, the workforce system, non-profits and faith-based organizations."

For full details and the application package, please see the grant program website at http://www.dol.gov/apprenticeship/grants.htm.

The Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Division of Business Partnerships, is accepting informal public comments on its FY16 requests for grant applications (RGAs) for the CTE Plan Implementation Grant, STEP Grant, and Oil and Gas Training Fund Grant. Comments on the RGAs are being accepted through December 19th, 2014. 

Business Partnerships is unable to reply to each comment submitted, and, while comments will be taken into consideration for inclusion in any final solicitations, submission of a comment does not guarantee inclusion in the final document. Any final solicitations may differ from the draft RGAs made available at this time.

Publication of these draft RGAs is informational only and does not constitute a solicitation for proposals. While an official solicitation is anticipated for mid-January 2015, solicitations for one or more programs may be delayed or may not be issued at all.

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Career and Technical Education Grant Program: The goal of the Career and Technical Education plan is to establish and expand career and technical education programs that address emerging demands and opportunities, adequately prepares Alaskans for success in their chosen careers, and provides access to training across the state's diverse regions and populations. The program focuses on developing or enhancing high quality career and technical education programs, including upgrades to equipment or facilities. The draft RGA is available at http://labor.alaska.gov/bp/forms/Draft_CTE_FY16_RGA.pdf.

Please submit comments by December 19 to carol.schumacher@alaska.gov
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Alaska Oil and Gas Training Fund: The purpose of the Alaska Oil and Gas Occupations Training Fund is to prepare Alaska workers for in-demand occupations in oil and gas exploration, development, construction, and distribution. Through the Alaska Oil and Gas Workforce Development Plan, the industry has identified engineering; the geosciences; remote sensing and inspection; health, safety, security, and environment; and maritime as priority occupational groups. The draft RGA is available at http://labor.alaska.gov/bp/forms/Draft_AOGTF_FY16_RGA.pdf.

Please submit comments by December 19 to: julie.frizzell@alaska.gov 
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State Training and Employment Program: The State Training and Employment Program was instituted to provide grants to organizations that provide training and employment assistance services. Its purpose is to enhance the quality of in-state job training and employment assistance, and to make in-state job training and employment assistance more easily available to employers, employees, and future employees by supplementing or leveraging existing training and employment assistance programs. The draft RGA is available at http://labor.alaska.gov/bp/forms/Draft_STEP_FY16_RGA.pdf.

Please submit comments by December 19 to: julie.frizzell@alaska.gov 
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The national Americorps program has announced a grant funding opportunity open to the following eligible applicants:
tribal governments; local governments of U.S. cities, counties or towns; school boards; state service commissions; and quasi-governmental organizations such as Councils of Governments and non-profit regional development authorities including park, housing, or economic development authorities.

DOLWD grant solicitations will be publicized through the GovDelivery notification service as well as the Alaska Online Public Notice system. Please sign up for one or both of these notification services in order to ensure you receive timely announcements of DOLWD grant opportunities!

The National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS), the precision manufacturing industry’s premier standards and certification body, and the Gene Haas Foundation (GHF), have teamed up to support a new grant opportunity to help schools prepare more students for success in precision manufacturing careers.

The GHF-NIMS Credentialing Grant will provide eligible secondary and post-secondary institutions with grants to build high-quality technical programs by providing funding to support implementation of industry-recognized credentials.  Eligible institutions must not currently offer NIMS credentials.  The grant has launched with a $100,000 investment from the GHF.

With an estimated 99,500 projected job openings for machinists and 117,100 projected job openings for industrial maintenance technicians nationally through 2020, we need to ensure individuals are learning the proper skills to enter into high-paying, lifelong career pathways.  

We ask that you please consider sharing this opportunity with your networks, school administrators and instructors.  In order to apply, there is a very short, simple online application available.

Follow this link to access the online application.

Proposals are due by December 1, 2014.

For more information or should you have any questions, please contact me at mstover@nims-skills.org or at (703) 352-4971.

Melanie Stover
Director of Strategic Initiatives
National Institute for Metalworking Skills, Inc. (NIMS)

Since FY2012, the Alaska legislature has provided $625,000 annually for implementation of the CTE Plan through competitive grants to school districts, postsecondary institutions, and non-profit organizations, to enhance existing CTE programs or implement new ones. These grants include a requirement for business partners to be involved, as well as requiring use of Personal Learning and Career Planning, an important foundation of the CTE Plan. 

Grant projects have supported a variety of programs and projects across the state, including health science programs of study in rural Alaska, construction training for incarcerated women, upgrading of CTE facilities, industry certification programs for high school students, a summer academy in community public safety, and development of a digital design and fabrication program. 

For details about all grant projects, please visit 
http://www.alaskacteplan.com/dolwd-cte-grants.html. 

The application for FY16 CTE Plan Grants will be published in early 2015.

For more information on this year's CTE and other state workforce development grants, please see the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development website at http://labor.state.ak.us/bp/workforce_investments/. 

From the Association for Career and Technical Education

As the new school year begins, several major corporate foundations are offering grant opportunities that could bring additional resources to your CTE classroom. 

Read the entire article.

Twenty Alaska organizations, including some secondary and postsecondary programs, have been awarded grants under the Alaska Native Education program through the U.S. Department of Education.  Congratuations to the grantees!

1.       Bristol Bay Native Association
2.       Rural Alaska Community Action Program, Inc.
3.       University of Alaska Southeast
4.       University of Alaska Fairbanks
5.       Bering Strait School District
6.       Annette Island School District
7.       Kuspuk School District
8.       Nenana City School District
9.       Goldbelt Heritage Foundation
10.   Northwest Arctic Borough School District
11.   Chugach School District
12.   Sealaska Heritage Institute
13.   Southeast Island School District
14.   Arctic Slope Community Foundation, Inc.
15.   Saint Mary’s City School District
16.   Alaska Humanities Forum
17.   Lower Kuskokwim School District
18.   Alaska Native Heritage Center
19.   Yuut Elitanaurviat Inc.
20.   Sealaska Heritage Foundation

For a complete list and a brief description of each project, see the US Dep't of Education website at  http://www2.ed.gov/programs/alaskanative/2014awards.html 

To spur innovation in higher education aimed at helping more students access and complete a college degree or credential, the U.S. Department of Education announced today the availability of $75 million in the First in the World (FITW) program. Click here for the Federal Register notice. The grants will fund the development and testing of innovative approaches and strategies at colleges and universities that improve college attainment and make higher education more affordable for students and families.

http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-announces-75-million-first-world-competition

Workforce Innovation Fund Solicitationhttp://www.doleta.gov/workforce_innovation/solicitation.cfm#r2 
Round 2 

The solicitation for Round 2 under the Fund will provide up to $53 million in grants authorized by Consolidated Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 (P.L. 113-6) and the Consolidated Funding Act, 2014 (P.L. 113-76) to states, local workforce areas, and entities eligible for Section 166 Indian and Native American Program grants.
See News Release dated May 2014

These funds will support innovative approaches to the design and delivery of employment and training services that generate long-term improvements in the performance of the public workforce system, both in terms of outcomes for job seeker and employer customers and cost-effectiveness. Particularly the Fund seeks to:

• Re-tool service delivery strategies and/or policy and administrative systems and processes to improve outcomes for workforce system customers; and
• Evaluate the effectiveness of such activities.

By focusing on change at both the service delivery and the systems levels, and by requiring rigorous evaluation of each investment, ETA seeks to ensure that these investments form the basis for broader change and continuous improvement in the operation of the public workforce system. By adding new value for our customers, ETA seeks to contribute to the identification and documentation of evidence-based practice within the field of workforce development.

Purpose of Program: The purpose of the Alaska Native Education (ANE) program is to support innovative projects that enhance the educational services provided to Alaska Native children and adults. These projects may include the activities authorized under section 7304(a)(2) and (a)(3) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA).

Note:Congress has expressly authorized the use of FY 2014 program funds for construction of facilities that support the operation of Alaska Native education programs.

For the full announcement: Alaska Native Education Program