The Department of Employment and Economic Development, through the Office of Youth Development, is seeking proposals from qualified responders to the Youth at Work Grant Program.
Donor Name: Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED)
State: Minnesota
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 03/31/2023
Size of the Grant: $850,000
Grant Duration: 2 years
Details:
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) is committed to empowering the growth of the Minnesota economy for everyone. DEED facilitates an economic environment to produce jobs and improve the quality of the state’s workforce.
Funding Information
As authorized in 116L.562, up to $3,893,100 per year for State Fiscal Years (SFY) 2024-25 is available for grants under the Youth at Work Grant Program. Thefinal dollar amount available will be determined by the Minnesota Legislature.
The maximum amount of funding that can be requested by any single applicant for the SFY 2024 Youth at Work Competitive Grants is $850,000 per year. Second year funding for SFY 2025 in the same amount as the SFY 2024 award will be available based on satisfactory performance in the first year.
Contract Start and End Dates
The intended start date for projects is July 1, 2023. This means that State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2024 funds are for the period from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024. For SFY 2025 funds are for the period from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025.
In awarding competitive grants, priority shall be given to programs that:
- Serve youth from communities of color and indigenous communities who are underrepresented in the workforce;
- Serve youth with disabilities;
- Provide youth with information about education and training requirements for careers in high-growth, in-demand occupations.
Additional allowable activities that may be provided by selected applicants can include:
- Provide youth with paid private sector work experiences (internships, pre-apprenticeship, apprenticeships) and public service employment opportunities.
- Work-based learning and Career pathways programming focused on in-demand industries such as healthcare and information technology.
- Support youth in achieving educational goals such as earning academic/service-learning credits, high school diploma or GED.
- Support youth with exploring, applying to and accessing post-secondary education opportunities.
- Financial literacy, mentoring, skills building activities and virtual trainings.
- Career awareness and exploration activities like career aptitude tests, career fairs, industry tours, job shadows and, career camps.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible applicants or “eligible organization” are specifically defined in the law as being either a local government unit (including tribal governments), nonprofit/community-based organization, community action agency, or a public school district.
Under §116L.562, eligible organizations:
- Must have demonstrated effectiveness in administering youth workforce programs and must leverage non-state or private sector funds.
- Must be youth-serving organizations with significant capacity and demonstrable youth development experience and outcomes to operate a youth workforce development project.
- If a program is not operated by a local unit of government or a workforce development board, the grant recipient must coordinate the program with the local workforce development board.
Before awarding a grant of over $25,000 to a nongovernmental organization that has not previously had a grant from the State of Minnesota, state law requires DEED to assess a recent financial statement from that organization. Items of significant concern must be discussed with the grant applicant and resolved to the satisfaction of DEED staff before a grant is awarded.
For more information, visit Youth at Work Competitive Grant.
