FY24 Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) Technical Assistance Grant Program

This program aims to provide technical assistance (TA) to employers (which may include public sector entities) and labor unions in the United States and its territories to encourage employment of women in both apprenticeable occupations and nontraditional occupations (A/NTO), specifically in the following ways:Developing (establishing, expanding, and/or enhancing) pre-apprenticeship, youth apprenticeship, Registered Apprenticeship (as defined in Appendix B "Acronyms and Definitions"), or other nontraditional skills training programs designed to prepare women for careers in A/NTO;Providing ongoing orientations or other resources for employers, unions, and workers on creating a successful environment for women in A/NTO; and/orSetting up support groups, facilitating networks, and/or providing supportive services (as defined in section IV.E.3) for women in A/NTO to improve their retention.Applicants may propose to provide technical assistance to support womens participation and success in the full range of industries in which women are historically underrepresented or where women are disproportionately concentrated in the lower-wage occupations. Such industries include, but are not limited to; advanced manufacturing, construction, energy, health care, information technology, finance, and transportation. Applicants with experience working with or as an equity intermediary are encouraged to apply, as well as applicants with a proposed focus on expanding outreach/recruitment to historically underrepresented communities, including but not limited to women of color and women with disabilities, women at or below the federal poverty line, formerly incarcerated women, immigrant women, transgender women, and women who live in rural geographic areas. Applicants that plan to accelerate local or state government agency efforts to increase womens inclusion and equity in projects funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law or BIL), CHIPS and Science Act, Inflation Reduction Act, or other federal funding are also encouraged to apply. For the purposes of this FOA, the term "woman" or "women" is to be interpreted in the most inclusive manner with participant eligibility to be inclusive of transgender women and non-binary individuals.To be eligible for funds under this grant program, an applicant must be a community-based organization (CBO). In awarding grants, the Department will only fund applications that meet the following criteria per the WANTO Act legislation;Demonstrate experience preparing women to gain employment in A/NTO;Demonstrate experience working with the business community to prepare them to place women in A/NTO;Have tradeswomen or women in nontraditional occupations as active members of the organization, as either employees or board members; andHave experience delivering TA specifically as defined above, including developing (establishing, expanding and/or enhancing) pre-apprenticeship, apprenticeship, or other nontraditional skills training programs designed to prepare women for careers in A/NTO; providing ongoing orientations or other resources for employers, unions, and workers on creating a successful environment for women in A/NTO; and setting up support groups, facilitating networks, and/or providing supportive services for women in A/NTO to improve their retention.Questions regarding this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Forecast may be emailed to [email protected]; however, please note there is limited information that may be shared with the public during the forecast period until the FOA is open for applications. We encourage prospective applicants and interested parties to use the Grants.gov subscription option to register for future updates provided for this particular announcement.