Deadline: 17-Nov-23
The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (the ministry) is allocating funding in 2023-24 through the Skills Development Fund (SDF) to support projects that will support Ontario’s economic recovery.
The SDF will support project-based solutions that offer partnership-driven approaches to stimulate economic growth in emerging and key growth sectors of Ontario’s economy and to increase long-term economic competitive advantage through workforce development strategies that can support workforce sustainability and resilience.
Objectives of the Program
- Support and help develop a resilient workforce by supporting access into the labour market, and/or retention and capacity-building for employers. This includes attracting investment and job creation through the development and maintenance of a stable labour force, particularly one that keeps pace with changes in technology and the way that work is done. Solutions can also redress pandemic-induced labour and financial impacts on businesses, reduce the administrative burden of human resourcing and worker retention.
- Empower workers and job seekers who face higher barriers of entry, and enhance pathways into meaningful and gainful employment, including youth, women, Indigenous peoples, racialized persons, justice-involved individuals, persons with disabilities, and members of at-risk communities. Tailored supports, workplace accommodations, or specialized training can be fundamental components of protecting workers’ social and physical wellbeing. This includes specialized training for people with learning disabilities, mental health challenges and other disorders.
- Encourage partnerships across the economy and support innovative ideas and training solutions to improve the capacity of communities to respond to shocks to labour market conditions in in-demand, emerging and essential sectors. Partnerships quicken market-led recovery, growth, and prosperity to enhance the talent development pipeline.
SDF Focus Areas
- Engage in researching/prototyping and developing innovative approaches and solutions to:
- modernize skills development training that meets local employer and labour market needs (i.e., information, tools, equipment, resources, service delivery models).
- offer business models/solutions to support current and future labour market/workforce challenges and needs.
- Ensure a sustainable and resilient workforce by enhancing employers’ capacity to:
- adapt their businesses to the changing labour market, including the digitally driven economy.
- develop partnership-driven approaches to their workforce development needs.
- deliver employer-led training to recruit, train and retrain workers that are targeted to be laid-off – enhance future focused skills. development through experiential learning, workplace (on-the-job) training, and job placements to improve workers’ employment outcomes and meet workforce needs now and in future.
- increase employer capacity to attract, develop, and retain underrepresented groups in their workforce, including by:
- providing employers with supports and tools to enhance accessibility and accommodation.
- providing specialised employment services and supports related to mental health.
- supporting employers’ training needs and reduce administrative burden of training and/or recruitment.
- Stimulate economic growth by unlocking the full economic potential of skilled trades and apprenticeship to:
- increase access to Ontario’s apprenticeship system by encouraging greater employer participation and improving supports for apprentices onthe-job, and in-class through the provision of wraparound supports, up-todate training equipment and increased capacity.
- enhance the apprentice experience either on-the-job or in-class to increase apprentice registrations, progression, completions, and the obtaining of the highest level of certification available in a particular trade.
- increase capacity of apprentice sponsors to attract, develop and retain underrepresented groups in their workforce.
- Build and sustain partnerships that identify and address shared sectorial workforce development needs and labour market needs in emerging and growth sectors in Ontario.
Target Sectors or Occupations
- Skilled trades, other high-skilled, technical occupations, and other occupations in high demand (e.g., heavy-duty equipment technician, technology-related jobs, etc.).
- Sectors experiencing labour market challenges, including those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., those experiencing high layoffs), sectors with unmet demand and talent gaps, as well as other priority sectors such as:
- Manufacturing and advanced manufacturing.
- In-demand health care occupations.
Eligible Activities
- Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship Projects
- In-class training support for apprentices, including accessibility accommodations, tutoring, exam preparation supports, mentorship programs, mental health support, and wraparound supports that promote apprentice progression completion, and the obtaining of the highest level of certification available in a particular trade.
- On-the-job supports to help trainers (e.g., journeypersons) provide the training apprentices need to successfully progress through their training and work towards the highest certification available in the relevant trade (e.g., train-thetrainer, career development initiatives, mental health support, mentorship programs).
- Wrap-around support for apprentices while training on-the-job (e.g., inclusive hiring and respectful workplace practices for hiring from traditionally underrepresented groups, including applicant screening, recruitment and retention strategies; mentorship; end-of-training supports).
- Research, development and piloting of new and innovative approaches to delivering classes that are on the 2024-25 apprenticeship in-class training seat plan (e.g., e-learning delivery, online assessment, virtual simulation, or other alternative methods to block release etc.).
- Purchase of equipment or supplies that support resilient skills building or enhance in-class training.
- Approved TDAs must deliver apprenticeship in-class training in the trade(s) associated with the project in the fiscal year in which the project is taking place.
- Employer/Organization Focused
- Recruitment, training and retention of workers and employers.
- Employer-led skills development (employability, essential and technical skills). through experiential learning, work-integrated learning, job trials, job placements, and mentorship.
- Projects that serve underrepresented groups (e.g., PwD, racialized groups, immigrants, etc.).
- Increased wraparound, accessibility and accommodation supports and tools, including projects that address mental health.
- Partnership building and management.
- Research/Prototyping and Development Projects
- Reports that identify innovative approaches and solutions to modernize skills development and build a resilient workforce.
- Innovative business models and workforce development solutions to support labour market challenges.
- Production of new or improved tools, models, software, e-learning modules, online assessment, virtual simulation, curriculum and/or resources.
- Partnership building and management.
- Workforce Development (Full-Service/Light Touch)
- Removing barriers in education and skills training opportunities, improving employer access and leadership in recruiting, and developing talent, or retaining and retraining the existing workforce.
- Researching, developing, and delivering new and innovative approaches to skills training (occupational, short-term, essential, literacy and soft skills, etc.).
- Providing tools, equipment and wrap-around support to job seekers, learners and workers (e.g., employability services, job placement, on-the-job mentorship, mental health supports and delivery, etc.).
- Developing virtual employment and training services.
- Building capacity of training providers and supporting organizations.
- Engaging and developing collaborations with employers and other key workforce development partners.
Eligibility Criteria
- The following entities are eligible to apply to the SDF as Primary Applicants:
- Employers in Ontario.
- Minister approved non-college apprenticeship training delivery agents (TDAs).
- Non-profit organizations in Ontario, including Indigenous band offices and Indigenous Skills and Employment Training (ISETs) agreement holders.
- Professional / industry / employer associations.
- Trade unions / union-affiliated organizations.
- Municipalities, District Social Services Administration Boards (DSSABs). Consolidated Municipal Service Managers (CMSMs), Hospitals.
- Be a legal entity.
- Be authorized to operate or carry-on business in the province of Ontario.
- Have a physical presence and are actively operating or carrying on business in the province of Ontario.
- Maintain and declare appropriate Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) or private disability insurance coverage as applicable to cover the cost of workrelated injuries/occupational diseases, as well as adequate third-party general liability insurance as advised by its insurance broker.
- Be, or must partner with, a ministry-approved Training Delivery Agent (TDA), where the applicant intends to deliver apprenticeship in-class training.
- Eligible organizations to apply as a co-applicant:
- district school boards.
- publicly assisted colleges, universities or Indigenous Institutes in Ontario.
- private career colleges registered under the Private Career Colleges Act, 2005.
For more information, visit Skills Development Fund.