Click Here for the Request for Applications document and application.
Tuesday, July 30th, 2024
The Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) is pleased to announce a new grant opportunity. We are seeking applications for initiatives to broaden the talent pool of key industries by improving equitable workforce participation of racial, ethnic, and linguistic minorities at Maine employers.
The Maine Economic Development Strategy highlights that achieving our economic goals requires all Maine people to have access to strong career pathways. Many key industries in Maine are struggling with a thinning labor market. Broadening the pipeline of workers into these industries can simultaneously help improve economic prosperity across backgrounds, support business growth, and bolster Maine’s economy overall.
Proposed projects must directly support employment access at one or more specific employers. A wide range of activities will be considered as long as there is a clear relationship to employment access; examples may range from work readiness training to providing transportation (see pages 8-9 of the RFA document for further examples). Applications must be in one of the following categories:
- Industry Talent Partnerships: A partnership of organizations to solve shared labor challenges in key industries through improved attraction and retention of diverse talent in a specific region. Partnerships will be ongoing efforts to organize businesses, nonprofits, community groups, and/or local governments towards strategies to bolster workforce attraction and retention and put them into practice.
- Pilot Talent Projects: A new project that the employer(s) believes may improve equitable workforce participation and wishes to attempt for the first time. Project approaches that are novel to the industry or to Maine are encouraged.
- Scaling Talent Projects: An existing initiative that has already demonstrated positive impact that is ready to scale to reach more employees, employers, industries, or regions.
Submission Deadline
September 9, 2024
Grant Amounts
DECD intends to make 12 awards across the three project categories:
- Industry Talent Partnerships: Two awards of up to $250,000.
- Pilot Talent Projects: Five awards of up to $165,000.
- Scaling Talent Projects: Five awards of up to $275,000.
Application Information and Webinar
For more information and to apply, view the State of Maine's Grant Opportunities page here. The direct link to download the RFA document is here. The application form is linked at the bottom of the RFA document.
An informational webinar was held on August 14, 2024, from 10:00 am - 11:00 am. The recording can be viewed here.