NEW YORK STATE

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES

Brief Overview of Grant

The purpose of this Request for Applications (RFA) is to support employer strategies and local efforts for lifelong learning for the development of the incumbent (employed) worker by providing funds for upgrading the occupational skills of those workers.

ADVANCE-NY uses Workforce Investment Act (WIA) monies to address employer demands for skilled workers. The program will fund projects that solve workforce problems by addressing identified skilled worker shortages within an industry or within a single employer's establishment through promoting occupational skills upgrading for incumbent workers.

ADVANCE-NY will provide funds to businesses to train incumbent workers in specific occupational skills needed by that business or industry and that lead to career growth and increased wages. The position(s) targeted for training must exist and be filled at the time the application is submitted. The applicant must demonstrate that the training will result in the workers' acquisition of transferable occupational skills. Public – that is federal, state, county and municipal - employees are not eligible to be trained under this initiative.

Please note: ADVANCE-NY is intended to fund training for the applicant’s employees. If the applicant business has no employees or if the workers are independent contractors or contract employees they are not eligible. However, if a company leases their employees for payroll and tax reporting purposes, and it has authority over the hiring, firing and scheduling of workers, it would be eligible for funding consideration.

Applications will be scored on their individual merits and will not be compared to other applications. There is no minimum award amount, however, the annual grant amount(s) requested and any resulting award(s) may not exceed $50,000.00 per company, subject to funding availability. For example, if a $50,000.00 ADVANCE-NY grant was awarded on December 1, 2007, the grant recipient would be unable to receive another award until December 1, 2008 or later. However, if a $35,000.00 ADVANCE-NY grant was awarded on December 1, 2007, and that contract was successfully completed and closed out (defined as having submitted a final voucher and fulfilled all reporting requirements), the grant recipient could receive another ADVANCE-NY award (of up to $15,000.00) within the same annual period.

Please note: In addition to the annual $50,000 award maximum, there is an ADVANCE-NY lifetime maximum of $100,000.00 for each organization. This maximum will be based upon the amount awarded, not the amount reimbursed. Any organization that has had grants under this RFA that total $100,000.00 would not be eligible to apply for additional ADVANCE-NY funding. Also, those companies that have had an award under ADVANCE-NY (and which are still under the $100,000.00 cap) are not eligible to reapply for additional funding until at least six months after their most recent ADVANCE-NY contract has been fully closed out. Please note that, as described above, the waiting period to reapply could be longer because of the annual $50,000.00 award maximum.

Please also note that those applicants that do not disclose prior WD&T grants (as required in Section 5 of the electronic application) will be disqualified from receiving any further WD&T training grant funding. If the applicant organization is unsure of receipt of prior WD&T grants, please send an inquiry via e-mail to Andrew Gehr at andrew.gehr@labor.state.ny.us prior to submitting the electronic application. Please put the words “Prior Grant Inquiry” in the Subject field of the e-mail.

There is a cap per trainee of $2,000.00 for this application (not per-trainee per-course). If the training proposed by the applicant exceeds a cost of $2,000.00 per trainee, the applicant business must pay the difference. In addition, large businesses (those that have 100 or more employees at a single or multiple facilities in New York State) must pay a cash match of at least 25% of the cost of the training. For example, a large business that applies for funding to support a $10,000 training program for 10 trainees will receive $7,500 in contract funding and must pay a cash match of $2,500.

Contracts will be awarded for a period of up to six months. Under extenuating circumstances, limited no-cost contract extensions of up to three months may be approved at the discretion of the Department. Awardees will be required to provide reports documenting the outcomes of the project. Contract payment will be on a reimbursable basis. Contractors must promptly submit vouchers for reimbursement of costs that have been incurred and paid in accordance with the approved budget.

For additional information, we invite you to contact us.