Good morning everyone,
I am contacting you because we have heard from you in the past. If this story is not in your beat or specialty, please forward to your peers who would be interested in attending this telephone conference.
This is advanced notice that Secretary Perez and Secretary Pritzker will hold a national press call on Wednesday at 4:15 EDT to announce the availability of up to $53 million in Workforce Innovation Fund grants. We’re working on the advisory, but I wanted to give you as much advanced notice as possible.
These grants are designed to catalyze and test innovative workforce approaches that:
- deliver services more efficiently and effectively (particularly for low-wage, less-skilled workers as well as dislocated workers and the long-term unemployed);
- facilitate cooperation across programs and funding; and
- help scale practices and improve cost efficiency by building knowledge about effective practices through rigorous evaluation.
This is the second round of grants available under the Workforce Innovation Fund. Approximately $171 million in grants were awarded in the first round, which included $147 million in July 2012 for 26 grants and $24 million in October 2013 for two Pay for Success grants.
The goals of the Workforce Innovation Fund are closely aligned with the administration’s job-driven training principles. Many of the first round grantees are working with local and regional employers, industry groups, and their state commerce and development heads to strengthen their employer partnerships and could be good local hooks. This second round of funding will help expand these efforts.
Juan J. Rodriguez
Deputy Regional Director
Office of Public Affairs – Dallas
U.S. Department of Labor
(972) 850-4709