Community Partners Encouraged to Apply for Future Ready Oregon Grants to Advance Workforce Training and Education in Key Industry Sectors
Apply by July 31, 2024, for Workforce Ready Grants to support a diverse workforce in the healthcare, manufacturing, and technology sectors
Salem, OR – The Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) is pleased to announce that Requests for Applications (RFAs) are now open for the third and final round of Future Ready Oregon Workforce Ready Grants. The HECC will award a combined total of approximately $40 million to recruit and retain a diverse workforce in key sectors of Oregon’s economy—healthcare, manufacturing, and technology—through three sector-focused RFAs. Community-based organizations and workforce service providers are invited to apply by July 31, 2024, and may submit multiple applications. The RFAs and free resources for application support are available in English and Spanish on the HECC’s Grant and Contract Opportunities web page.
Workforce Ready Grants are the largest component of the Future Ready Oregon investment passed by the Oregon Legislature in 2022. Workforce Ready Grants invest in new and innovative approaches to workforce education and training and prioritize participation by individuals who have been historically underserved by or are underrepresented in education and employment. Grant-funded projects will build or expand collaborative and innovative partnerships that actively engage employers, education and training providers, and community-based organizations. Successful partnerships will advance a diverse workforce by identifying barriers to participation, program completion, and career advancement, and connecting priority populations with the training and resources they need for good-paying jobs and meaningful careers.
Sector-specific Workforce Ready Grants
The HECC will award a total of approximately $18 million for Healthcare Workforce Ready Grants for projects that expand education and training, job placement, retention, and career advancement for nursing career pathways, and education and training programs that address community-identified healthcare workforce priorities, including recruitment and retention initiatives.
The HECC will award a total of approximately $12 million for Manufacturing Workforce Ready Grants to fund outreach, career awareness, and career exploration initiatives that intentionally prioritize equitable participation by individuals from priority populations, and earn-and-learn training opportunities that provide compensation for individuals to participate in education that leads to employment.
The HECC will award a total of approximately $10 million for Technology Workforce Ready Grants for projects that address transferrable technology skills for career advancement or recruitment, including education and training programs focused on upskilling and retraining adult learners, dislocated workers, and individuals employed in high tech or any other industry, and high-tech career exploration, building awareness of technology occupations and careers.
Jennifer Purcell, director of Future Ready Oregon at the HECC, says: “This final round of Future Ready Oregon grant funding represents an exciting opportunity to address critical workforce shortages and ensure opportunities for equitable prosperity. Partnerships are central to preparing learners, workers, employers, and communities for a future of increasingly complex work. These sector-focused grants will advance new and innovative approaches to education and training, equipping a diverse workforce with the skills and credentials needed to connect with employment and advance in careers in healthcare, manufacturing, and technology.”
Background on Future Ready Oregon and Workforce Ready Grants
Future Ready Oregon, also known as Senate Bill 1545 (2022), is a comprehensive $200 million package of grants and strategic initiatives that aims to close gaps in educational attainment and employment by strengthening Oregon’s workforce system and increasing equitable access to and success in workforce education and training. Future Ready Oregon prioritizes participation by individuals from historically underserved and underrepresented priority populations, including communities of color, women, low-income communities, rural and frontier communities, veterans, incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals, persons with disabilities, members of Oregon’s nine federally recognized tribes, individuals who disproportionately experience discrimination in employment on the basis of age, and individuals who identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Workforce Ready Grants are one component of Future Ready Oregon. The first round of Workforce Ready Grants expanded the partners that comprise Oregon’s workforce system and their organizational capacity to provide workforce services. A second round of grant funding advanced innovative workforce programs. The priorities for this third round of funding were informed by the Healthcare, Manufacturing, and Technology Industry Consortia. The consortia were established by Future Ready Oregon and launched by the HECC in partnership with the Workforce and Talent Development Board. Industry Consortia convene industry, education, labor, and community partners to identify and address sector-specific workforce development challenges and opportunities.
To learn more about Future Ready Oregon, visit the HECC’s Future Ready Oregon web page. To receive updates, subscribe to the Future Ready Oregon mailing list.
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