Because of your interest in bioenergy, EESI thought you may want to know about this funding opportunity:

ETA Solicits Grant Applications for Energy Industry Job Training

On January 23, the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) announced a solicitation for grant applications under the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative (http://www.doleta.gov/BRG/JobTrainInitiative/).  Approximately $10 million in grant money is available “for high-impact regional approaches to meet the workforce challenges of the energy industry and/or address the shortage of construction and skilled trade workers needed to maintain and expand the energy industry infrastructure.”
Applicants must demonstrate that their proposed project will be developed and implemented by a strategic regional partnership and focus on regional talent development and training.  Average individual grants are anticipated to be between $500,000 and $1 million and may be awarded to public, private for-profit, or private non-profit organizations in the oil and natural gas, mining, electric, renewable energy, or nuclear energy sectors.  The period of grant performance will be up to 36 months from the date of execution of the grant documents, and the projects funded are expected to contain the following critical elements:

• Strategic regional partnerships
• Systemic solutions to industry-identified workforce challenges
• Connections to regional economic and talent development strategies
• Shared and leveraged resources
• Clear and specific outcomes
• Clear strategies for sustainability beyond the federal investment

Proposed training solutions must support participants’ long term career growth and result in an industry-recognized certificate, degree, or license.

A Webinar for prospective applicants will be held on February 1, 2008 at 2 pm EST.  Access information for the Webinar is available at http://www.workforce3one.org/public/webinars/details.cfm?id=279.  To read the ETA press release, please visit http://www.doleta.gov/whatsnew/new_releases/2008-01-23_2.cfm.

The closing date for applications is March 25, 2008 and the full Solicitation for Grant Applications is available at http://www.doleta.gov/sga/sga.cfm.

To learn more about the potential economic impact of renewable energy jobs, please review information from the Environmental and Energy Study Institute’s “Green Collar Jobs” briefing at
http://www.eesi.org/briefings/2007/Energy%20&%20Climate/11-8-07_green_jobs/greenjobs_notice.html.

If you have questions, please contact Jetta Wong at jwong@eesi.org or (202) 662-1885.

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