Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants

The Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants program (referred to as Strengthening Community Colleges or SCC) will build the capacity of community colleges to collaborate with employers and the public workforce development system to meet local and regional labor market demand for a skilled workforce. The purpose of this grant is (1) to increase the capacity and responsiveness of community colleges to address the skill development needs of employers and dislocated and unemployed workers, incumbent workers, and new entrants to the workforce; (2) to offer this spectrum of workers and other individuals accelerated career pathways that enable them to gain skills and transition from unemployment to (re)employment quickly; and (3) to address the new challenges associated with the COVID-19 health crisis that necessitate social distancing practices and expanding online and technology-enabled learning and migrating services to a virtual environment.

Single Institution: A community college that is a public institution of higher education as defined in Section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act, and at which the associate’s degree is primarily the highest degree awarded, as shown by the college’s designation as a community college at https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/. A single institution lead applicant must partner with one or more workforce development system partners, and employer partners as described below; otherwise the application will be considered non-responsive and will not be considered. Together, the required and optional partners are referred to as a Strengthening Community Colleges (SCC) Training Grants Partnership. The requirements for required and optional partners are described below in Section III.A.3. SCC Partnership. Consortium Lead: A lead applicant representing a consortium of Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs), as defined in Section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act. The consortium lead must be a community college that is a public institution of higher education as defined in Section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act, and at which the associate’s degree is primarily the highest degree awarded, as shown by the college’s designation as a community college at https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/. Consortium members may include community colleges and public and private, non-profit four-year IHEs, as defined in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act. For consortium applicants, the Department is requiring IHEs to apply for this funding as a consortium of colleges that will undertake systems change within one state, or across one or more community college districts within a state system. The IHE consortium must partner with an IHE coordinating entity, one or more workforce development system partners, and employer partners as described below; otherwise the application will be considered non-responsive and will not be considered. Together the required and optional partners are referred to as a Strengthening Community Colleges (SCC) Training Grants Partnership. The requirements for required and optional partners are described below in Section III.A.3. SCC Partnership.

Steven A Canger Grants Management Specialist Canger.Steven.A@dol.gov