What Happened?
The Department of Labor announced nearly $147 million in grants to workforce agencies in 26 cities and towns as part of a “Pay for Success” program.
Why?
The DOL is interested in getting Americans back to work, and in many cases that means training workers and matching skills to employer demand. These grants, part of a “Workforce Innovation Fund,” are focused on innovative approaches to training, and tracking rigorously what works.
Awardees
The original grant solicitation cited $98 million would be awarded, but—due to the volume and quality of responses, combined with the pressing need for resources—the DOL added almost $50 million to the fund. In total, 26 grants, ranging from $1 million to $12 million, were awarded, including:
- Chicago Workforce Investment Council: $3 million
- County of DeKalb (Decatur, GA): $1.7 million
- Metro North Regional Employment Board (Cambridge, MA): $3 mlllion
- Newark Workforce Investment Board (Newark, NJ): $3 million
- Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (Columbus, OH): $12 million
- Pasco-Hernando Workforce Board (Brooksville, FL): $1.4 million
- Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training (Cranston, RI): $2.8 million
- Utah Department of Workforce Services (Salt Lake City): $4.6 million
The largest five grants were $12 million awards to Ohio (above), the city of Los Angeles, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Baltimore County, and the Alachua Bradford Regional Workforce Board in Gainesville, Florida.
More Money?
Yes, there is more money to be had, though not as much. A $20 million second round of funding was announced at the same time as the award recipients, above. December 11 is the closing date for applications for the next slate Pay for Success grants. Click here for the solicitation for grant applications.
Next Steps
Details on the Workforce Innovation Fund can be found at the Web site of the Department of Labor. Additional grants are also listed on the DOL’s Web site. A full list of the awardees, above, has also been posted.