Deadline: 12-Oct-21
The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), U.S. Department of Commerce is seeking proposals for 2021 STEM Talent Challenge Program to build STEM talent training systems to strengthen regional innovation economies.
This competition seeks applications from eligible applicants that are creating and implementing STEM talent development strategies that complement their region’s innovation economy, particularly as such strategies relate to emerging, transformative sectors and future industries such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, advanced manufacturing and robotics, space exploration and commerce, bioscience, quantum information science, green products, processes and buildings, and aqua- and agricultural technologies
The STEM Talent Challenge is designed to help communities with implementing programs that align with the assessed needs of the region and its innovative businesses. Projects should implement or scale STEM competency-based work-and-learn education and training models that are directly connected with the needs of employers in a regional economy.
Activities
The STEM Talent Challenge will provide funding to implement and expand new work-and-learn models to increase the STEM-capable workforce across the nation’s growing regional innovation economies. Competitive applications will clearly communicate how they will develop or expand regional STEM workforce capacity to support high-growth, high-wage entrepreneurial ventures, industries of the future, and other innovation-driven businesses, and how they will accelerate economic competitiveness and job creation in their respective regions and in the United States.
Projects should aim to identify opportunities in high-growth potential sectors, and to expand and empower the innovation economy workforce, including by:
- Engaging regional entrepreneurs, innovators, and the organizations that support them to assess and forecast current and future talent needs and to develop collaborative solutions with work-based programs;
- Building highly skilled talent and connecting it to highly technical opportunities that foster professional development and provide continuing advanced skills training to develop the technical and scientific workforce that regional innovation initiatives need;
- Strengthening collaboration among entrepreneurs, industry leaders and employers, educational organizations, established corporations, economic and/or workforce development organizations, and the public sector to enable better access to skilled workers and to develop demand-driven workforce pipelines for the innovation economy; and
- Placing new employees into immediate job openings with regional employers in need of STEM talent.
Desired Outputs and Outcomes
Proposed projects may aim for some or all of the following outputs and outcomes or others, as appropriate, considering each proposed project’s regional, sectoral, and economic contexts.
- STEM Work-Based Learning and Training: Projects should focus on an interdisciplinary approach and utilize training models that provide workers with the experience and skills they will need to succeed on-the-job and in real-world applications.
- Increase Regional Innovation Capacity: Projects should increase the capacity of those driving innovation in the region by connecting regional innovation stakeholders and employers with workforce and talent development leaders or training providers.
- Increase Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEM: Projects should focus on enabling all members of a community to have equitable access to and participate in the innovation economy. Projects should seek to provide historically underserved and underrepresented communities with access to training and other tools to succeed.
Funding Information
- The maximum federal share of each STEM Talent Challenge award is $250,000. This funding should be used for program implementation during the period of performance.
- Funding in the amount of $2,000,000 has been appropriated for grants made under the STEM Talent Challenge pursuant to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.
- Anticipated awards typically will have a period of performance of 24 months with an estimated start date of February 1, 2022.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible applications for and eligible recipients of EDA investment assistance under this NOFO include:
- a State;
- an Indian tribe;
- a city or other political subdivision of a State;
- an entity that is—
- a nonprofit organization,
- an institution of higher education,
- a public-private partnership,
- a science or research park,
- a Federal laboratory, or
- an economic development organization or similar entity,
- and that has an application supported by a State, a political subdivision of a State, or a native organization.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=335272