Workforce Skills Cabinet Criteria
The Massachusetts Workforce Skills Cabinet aligns the Executive Offices of Education, Labor and Workforce Development, and Housing and Economic Development toward a comprehensive economic growth agenda. The Cabinet is charged with creating and implementing a strategy to ensure that individuals can develop and continuously improve their skills and knowledge to meet the varying hiring needs of employers in the Commonwealth. The Workforce Skills Cabinet has adopted criteria to guide its collaborative work:
- Be Demand-Driven: Meets a business-driven need, as documented in the funding application and verified in the funding review, award, and implementation
- Leverages Partnerships: Builds connections between and among educational institutions (including middle/high schools, community colleges, and state colleges/universities), and between educational institutions, private sector businesses and non-profit organizations
- Responds to Regional Plans: Responds to Workforce Skills Cabinet Regional Planning Blueprint and aligns to existing regional economic development, workforce development, and higher education plans to meet the business-driven need
- Maximizes Increase in Skilled Workers: Leads to an increase in the number of skilled workers in a cost-effective way to meet business-driven hiring needs, and, to the greatest extent possible, focuses on improving the skills of students and/or individuals facing barriers to employment
- Leverages Other Funding: Builds on other sources of local, state, federal and private funding to meet common goals
- Builds on Proven Programs: Supports or expands a program that has shown proven results, or is based on a model that has shown proven results
- Demonstrates Sustainability: Shows evidence of the ability to sustain a contribution to the workforce pipeline after grant funds have expired
As part of the Workforce Skills Cabinet’s work to align resources to better meet common goals, the former Manufacturing Training Equipment Grants (administered by EOHED) and the Vocational Opportunity Challenge Grants (formerly administered by A&F) have been combined into one unified and integrated program - the Skills Capital Grant Program. The 2016 MA Economic Development Bill established three years of funding of $45 million for the WSC to administer the Skill Capital Grant Program to increase the capacity and quality of vocational training and education by providing funds to eligible schools and institutions for the purchase and installation of vocational-technical equipment. The 2018 Economic Bond Bill established an additional $75 million funding for the WSC to administer the Skill Capital Grant program. Workforce Skills Cabinet Skills Capital Grant Program, to date has provided over 491 grants totaling $153 Million to date.
Program Overview
Purpose: The Skills Capital Grant Program will award grants for the purchase and installation of equipment and related improvements and renovations necessary for installation and use of such equipment to support vocational and technical training. This equipment will upgrade and expand career technical education and training programs that are aligned to regional economic and workforce development priorities for in-demand industries, provided that grant applications facilitate collaboration to provide students training pathways to career opportunities in high-skill, high-demand industry sectors, and include all of the following characteristics:
- Respond to WSC Regional Planning Blueprint and Labor Market Information
- Engage industry partners in supporting structured work readiness activities and work-based learning experiences
- Offer focused college and career guidance and advisement systems
- Provide integrated rigorous instructional courses
- Support secondary and postsecondary linkages
- Provide the opportunity to obtain an industry-recognized credential, apprenticeship, or college credits towards a Certificate, Associate, or Baccalaureate degree
FY24 Grant Program Guidance
| Total Grant Program | Up to $20,000,000 |
| Grant Size (s) |
Organization may only submit one application and may select from the two options provided.
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| Eligible Applicants |
Preference maybe given to organizations that have not received Skills Capital Grant funding in FY23 or in the recent past. The following Massachusetts organizations providing services aligned to the federal Perkins Act definition of career and technical education are eligible to apply as lead applicants on behalf of a partnership:
Additionally, eligible are:
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| Use of Grant Funds | Purchase and installation of equipment and any related improvements and renovations necessary for installation and use of such equipment. |
| Grant Targeted Population and Occupations | This program is intended to benefit youth and adult students as well as incumbent workers who are enrolled in eligible schools and vocational programs, who are preparing and training to enter the workforce or advance their careers. The program seeks to support eligible schools that are providing workforce skills training for high demand industries and critical occupations identified by Workforce Skills Cabinet Regional Blueprint, such as advanced manufacturing, healthcare, information technology, construction/skilled trades and life sciences. Applicants will be required to identify the target industries and occupations for their training and to demonstrate the demand for jobs and career opportunities in that industry. Preference will be given to applications that document that funding will support building instructional capacity to support them and to significantly close skills gap as identified by the Regional Blueprint. The Workforce Skills Cabinet will prioritize support of Career Tech Initiative expansion of youth (2nd shift and adult training programs) and evening adult programs. |
| Goals of Funding |
The purchase and installation of vocational training equipment must support the organization to meet the Career Pathway needs for the target populations in the following goals: Preference for funding Increasing capacity. (High recognition for achieving all three):
Consideration for funding: Maintaining Quality
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| Terms of Award | Grants will be awarded as cost reimbursement contracts, with an anticipated contract start date of July 1, 2023. All purchases of equipment and grant expenditures must be completed by June 30, 2024. |
| Matching Funds | Applicants must demonstrate sustainable partnerships with relevant employers and in-kind and/or cash match as required to support programs supported by the grant request. Applicants seeking multi-year funding are required to meet matching resources and budgeting requirements identified on the multi-year funding budget sheet. For every $3 of Skills Capital Grant funds requested. Applicants must secure a minimum of $1 of cash match to support related equipment or infrastructure from employers or other source besides state funding. Documentation of an awardees available matching resources will be required prior to contracting. |
FY24 Grant Timeline
| Request for Proposals Released | Mid-January |
| To confirm eligibility, an optional letter of intent is requested by potential applicants. |
Mid-February |
| Proposals will only be accepted through the online application system. |
Mid-March Apply at: |
| Projected Grant Awards Announcement | Mid-April |
| Anticipated Contract Start Date | On or about July 1, 2023 |
| Funding Disbursement | On a rolling basis, upon verification of approved submitted purchases, requests for equipment, and related installation costs. |
| Contract End Date | June 30, 2024 |
General Contracting Information
A. Program Administration: This program is offered by the Massachusetts Workforce Skills Cabinet and funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts through its capital budget. The grant application process will be administered by the Executive Office of Education (EOE), in coordination with the Workforce Skills Cabinet.
B. Grants Range: Organization may only submit one application for this funding round.
- Option 1: FY 24 Award - Minimum Grant: $50,000 - Maximum Grant: $500,000 Applicants seeking support of Innovation Pathway programs are limited to a maximum of $75,000 per designated pathway program and a total of two pathways ($150,000).
- Option 2: Multi year Award Request (FY 24 and FY 25); $750,000 to $1,5000,000. Applicants seeking multi-year funding are required to meet matching resources and budgeting requirements identified on the multi-year funding budget sheet.
C. Eligible Purchases: The intent of the program is to allow qualified programs to purchase training equipment. Minor one-time installation costs may be included in the request, as well as requests for minor facility renovations necessary for the successful installation and usage of the equipment. The main purpose of the funding is to purchase equipment, not to renovate classroom space. Recipients may begin to incur costs upon contract execution. For FY 24 Awards all costs must be incurred between the contract execution date and June 30, 2024, inclusive. Expenses incurred after June 30, 2024 will not be eligible for reimbursement by this program. Requests for reimbursement may be submitted to EOE periodically, but no later than June 30, 2024. For multiyear awards (FY23-24) EOE will confirm the required reimbursement timelines during the contracting process with the latest requests for reimbursement required to be submitted to EOE no later than June 30, 2024.
D. Reimbursement:
- Awards are structured as cost-reimbursement grants, meaning that recipients are expected to incur expenses before receiving any funds from the Commonwealth.
- EOE will require a letter of certification to confirm that the items have been delivered and/or installation has been completed. The Grantee will retain copies of all related purchasing documentation, including purchase orders, tracking information, invoices, etc. as required under the terms of the grant. The grantee understands that these records must be maintained for a period of seven (7) years for audit and review purposes and made available upon request.
- Payments will be disbursed via electronic fund transfer (“EFT”).
- In compliance with the Office of the State Comptroller rules and regulations, no grant recipient shall expend grant funds until a contract has been fully executed with EOE.Upon contract execution recipients will be allowed to incur costs. Costs must be incurred between contract execution and up to, including, June 30, 2023. No expenses incurred after June 30, 2024 will be reimbursed by this program. Requests for reimbursement may be submitted to EOE no later than August 6, 2023. If a multi-year award is made EOE will issue a similar multi-year contract agreement that will complete June 30, 2024.
- Grantees will forfeit any remaining award unused after the contract expires. EOE shall give due consideration to any extenuating circumstances presented in writing by the applicant and may waive this restriction at its discretion.
- As a condition of funding EOE will require that the awardee provide information on enrollment, partnering and number of credentials awarded related to programs supported by the grant for the next three fiscal years.