The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) through its Division of Apprenticeship Standards (DAS) announces the availability of $25,000,000 in funds for the Equal Representation in Construction Apprenticeship (ERiCA) Grant Program Year 2023-25 (PY 23-25).
Donor Name: California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR)
State: California
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 12/15/2022
Grant Size: $4,000,000
Grant Duration: 2 years 2 months
Details:
This grant seeks to improve access to training and employment opportunities for underserved populations in construction trades across all communities throughout the state, by providing supportive resources for childcare along with outreach to and community building among underserved populations. The funding for this grant comes from CA General Fund in the annual budget bills which allocated a total of $30 million across the two budget years 2021- 2023, SB-129 for 2021-22 and SB 154 for 2022-2023. In addition, SB 191 from 2022-2023 established a Women in Construction Priority Program within DIR, with a mandate to assist and provide resources to women in the construction industry. DIR is working across various divisions and departments to achieve this mandate and this grant is a part of that overall strategy.
One of the main goals of the grant is to increase opportunities for women and underserved populations into construction careers by removing a primary barrier: childcare costs. Another goal is to increase targeted outreach directed to these underserved communities. The grant funds aim to support projects that also align with Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) programs and that implement co-enrollment strategies, braid other program funding, provide supportive services, and create onramps to career pathways for California’s underserved populations.
The goals of this Grant are to:
- Provide women, non-binary and underserved populations opportunities to train for a construction career with greater access to DAS registered pre-apprenticeships and apprenticeships
- Increase awareness among women, non-binary and underserved populations of preapprenticeship and apprenticeship programs that create an onramp into a career in the building/construction industry
- Reduce contractors and employers concerns regarding hiring women, non-binary and underserved apprentices
- Increase the number of women, non-binary and underserved populations employed in the construction trades
- Increase the number of women, non-binary and underserved populations registered in construction apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships
Funding Information
The total funding available through this grant is $25,000,000, which will be allocated across two different categories.
- Supportive Resources for Childcare
- Pre-apprenticeship: $5,000 per eligible apprentice in a registered pre-apprenticeship program, or
- Apprenticeship: $10,000 per eligible apprentice in a registered apprenticeship program
- Proposals under this category of funding must identify how many eligible participants the grant will support.
- The maximum amount per proposal for this category of funding is $3,000,000.
- Outreach and Community Building
- The maximum amount per proposal for this category of funding is $2,000,000. If an applicant is applying to both categories of funding, the maximum combined grant proposal cannot exceed $4,000,000.
- Anticipated performance period for participating projects funded under this SFP is expected to be from April 1, 2023 through June 30, 2025.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible Grant applicants are limited to organizations that support equal representation in the construction workforce, including:
- Non-profits
- Community-based Organizations
- Local Education Agencies
- Workforce Development Boards
- Unions
- Regis
For more information, visit DIR.
