Administered by the Executive Office of Economic Development (EOED), the Community Workforce Partnership Grant program supports community-led responses to community-defined economic opportunities and challenges, with a particular focus on equipping residents and small business employees with the knowledge, support, and skills to succeed in today’s economy.
Donor Name: Executive Office of Economic Development (EOED)
State: Massachusetts
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/02/2025
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
The program’s increased emphasis on workforce skills reflects this grant’s new funding source, the Workforce Investment Trust Fund.
The fund’s goal is to develop and strengthen workforce opportunities for low-income communities and vulnerable youth and young adults in the commonwealth, including providing opportunities and strategies to promote stable employment and wage growth.
Project Types
- Job skill training, including education and hands on skills
- Youth focus
- Adult focus
- All ages/mixed ages
- Literacy and language skills
- Adult literacy
- English language learning with workforce focus
- Small business employee skill development, apprenticeship, recruitment and retention.
Key Components of the Community Workforce Partnership Grant Program
- Community-Defined Responses to Community Economic Needs or Opportunities:
- The Executive Office of Economic Development recognizes that Massachusetts’ 351 communities face unique economic and equity challenges, and that the path to success lies in tapping into the unique local assets that they already possess, rather than in one-size-fits-all directives from government. As such, they look to communities to define their own workforce-related economic goals and objectives
- Single Geographic Community:
- Projects must be focused on a single Massachusetts city or town (or neighborhood, if located within the City of Boston) and include active partners and stakeholders located in that community. Generally, applicants should base their project proposal on locally significant economic trends. The key is that the project is in direct response to a need or opportunity that the group has identified and deemed important in that geographic community
- Partnership Model:
- Successful applicants will show that they are working as part of an active coalition or collaboration – that is, that they have at least one partner in the community (and preferably several) all working together on the project. Ideally, coalitions will include partners from the private and public sectors as well as community groups; operational collaboration with municipal government can be a strong demonstration that a project reflects community goals. Other potential partners include educational institutions, Chambers of Commerce, local businesses, and more. Active and collaborative coalitions that receive support from this program are deeper and broader than a mere referral or financial relationship between partners
- Target Population:
- Successful applicants will identify a discrete target population that their project is intended to serve and who have also played a role in shaping the project. In addition to being part of the geographic community identified in the application, defining traits of a target population might include affiliation with particular demographic groups (like age, gender identity, language spoken, cultural affinity, disability), educational milestones (like high school completion), interests and strengths (people who want to learn a new language or pursue a particular career) or life experiences (like parenthood or history of incarceration). Please note that this is far from an exhaustive list of the defining features of a target population – the key is that the target population served reflects the community the project takes place in and solves an economic problem or takes advantage of an economic opportunity in that municipality
- Workforce Development Focus:
- All successful applications will be centered on a workforce development initiative. Project categories include job skill training, literacy and language skills, and small business worker skill development, apprenticeship, recruitment and retention
- Alignment with the Team Massachusetts: Leading Future Generations Economic Development Plan:
- This program incorporates several insights from the 2023 Economic Development Plan, including a focus on economic fundamentals for communities experiencing economic inequality. Particularly, this grant program evaluation prioritizes applicants whose project incorporates childcare, transportation, housing stability, and/or access to healthcare, because these are critical to creating a foundation for economic mobility which allows all people to thrive.
Funding Information
Maximum Grant: $150,000.
Grant Period
January 1, 2026, to December 31, 2026.
Eligibility Requirements
- Eligible Lead Applicants:
- Massachusetts nonprofit organizations with IRS tax-exempt status as of the date of application
- Experienced in providing workforce development services
- Applying on behalf of a partnership, coalition or collaboration involving at least one other active organization
- Has a minimum annual operating budget of $200,000 for the prior fiscal year
- Additional Criteria:
- The lead applicant must be the organization who will primarily carry out the grant project and be responsible for managing grant funds and filing reports
- Applicants who are themselves employers (for example, hiring participants for a transitional work program) must pay all participants at least the Massachusetts minimum wage
- The grant project must be distinct from any project currently funded by the EOED Community Empowerment and Reinvestment grant program.
For more information, visit EOED.
