Deadline: 27-Sep-21
The Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) is pleased to launch the Women’s Economic Security Act (WESA) Grant Program to provide services that encourage and assist women to enter high-wage, high-demand, nontraditional occupations including but not limited to those in the skilled trades and STEM occupations to increase the number of women in high-wage, high-demand, and nontraditional occupations.
Themes
Within DEED’s Employment & Training Division, Adult Career Pathways programs will be focused on awarding proposals that place an emphasis on the following three themes:
- Equity: Adult Career Pathways programs seek to build an inclusive, skilled workforce and reduce disparities based on race, disability, and gender.
- Training participants with the most significant barriers to employment and ensuring participants have equal access to training and employment opportunities.
- Ensuring that organizations serving the most hard to serve populations reflect the community accessing the services and incorporate human-centered design into their programs.
- Reducing and eliminating disparities by empowering all members of the workforce will result in a more equitable and prosperous Minnesota for individuals, families, businesses, and communities.
- Innovation: Adult Career Pathways programs recognize that new solutions must be developed to respond to new and ongoing challenges in the workforce and communities.
- Programs that are mission-driven, utilizing best practices while having an innovation mindset to creatively imagine and apply new approaches to success.
- Clearly show the development of innovative approaches to outreach and recruitment, reaching those who have been disconnected and disenfranchised from the workforce.
- Designing and implementing new efficient and effective systems for workforce development programs that address skills shortages, remove barriers to lifelong learning, and help workers improve their employability.
- DEED will facilitate the growth of innovative programs by providing resources to ensure the program’s ability to grow and expand.
- Performance: Adult Career Pathways programs are built on a foundation of partnerships, most significantly between program providers and employers
- Job Placement Employer partners that will offer livable wage jobs and job advancement to program participants.
- Wage Rate Programs that pursue training and/or development that target industries and jobs with livable wages.
- Job Retention Programs that provide intentional support for participants to retain employment and advance in their chosen field.
- Credential Attainment Programs that yield measurable results demonstrated by attainment of foundational skills and industry specific qualifications.
Funding Information
- Organizations may apply for up to $150,000 each year, for a maximum of $300,000.
- Priority will be given to programs that encourage and assist women of color.
- Note that this grant does not allow the purchase of equipment over $5,000.
Eligible Populations
Proposed services must serve women in one or more of the following categories:
- Women of color (American Indian, Asian, Black, or Hispanic) over age 18
- Girls of color (American Indian, Asian, Black, or Hispanic) age 16-18
- Women over age 50
- Low-income women
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible Organizations include:
- Community-based organizations experienced in serving women
- Employers
- Business and trade associations
- Labor unions and employee organizations
- Registered apprenticeship programs
- Secondary and postsecondary education institutions located in Minnesota
- Workforce and economic development agencies.
For more information, visit https://mn.gov/deed/about/contracts/open-rfp.jsp