U.S. Department of Labor: Reentry Projects

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Employment and Training Administration (ETA) seeks to enhance both adult and young adult reentry strategies through collaboration with the field to identify and respond to emerging or chronic reentry challenges. This funding opportunity provides the chance for organizations to build customized projects. Applicants must propose evidence-based and evidence-informed interventions, new interventions that theory or research suggests are promising, or a combination of both that lead to increased employment outcomes for their target populations. Further, the Department supports the testing of promising practices and services, as well as established services in new combinations.

ETA is especially interested in program models that offer apprenticeship opportunities, including in registered apprenticeship programs, industry-recognized apprenticeship programs, as well as pre-apprenticeship opportunities. Another focus of this initiative is to assist communities in planning and implementing comprehensive reentry programs to address the full range of challenges involved in helping formerly incarcerated adults and young adults who have been involved in the juvenile or adult justice system make successful transitions back to the community. The intent is to protect community safety by ensuring that these individuals:

• Become productive, responsible, and law-abiding members of society
• Are provided with positive opportunities to engage in pro-social activities such as employment and/or education
• Maintain long-term employment
• Sustain a stable residence
• Successfully address their substance abuse issues and mental health needs, as applicable, through partnerships with local programs

These projects will serve either young adults between the ages of 18 to 24 who have been involved in the juvenile or adult justice system or adults ages 25 or older who have been incarcerated in the adult criminal justice system and released from prison or jail within 180 days. All projects must be located in high-poverty, high-crime communities.

Applicants must propose evidence-based and informed interventions or new interventions that theory or research suggests are promising (or a combination of both) that lead to increased employment outcomes for their target populations and must frame their goals and objectives to address this issue; applicants are able to select and implement different program services and/or features of program models. Proposed projects must include employment-focused services as well as case management and legal services.

Amount: A total of $82,500,000 is available to award up to 35 grants. Award ranges are detailed below and depend upon applicant type (see “Eligibility” below for details about types of applicants). The project period is for 39 months, which includes up to three months of planning, a required 24-month period of operation, and a required 12-month period for follow-up services.

• Awards of up to $1,500,000 each will be made to approximately 25 community-based organization, approximately 12 awards will be made to organizations proposing to serve adults and approximately 13 awards will be made to organizations proposing to serve young adults
• Awards of up to $4,500,000 each will be made to fund 10 intermediary organizations, approximately three awards will be made to intermediaries proposing to serve adults and approximately seven to intermediaries proposing to serve young adults

Applicants must not exceed an $8,000 cost-per-participant (CPP) for the duration of this grant, which includes administrative, planning, and follow-up costs.

Intermediary organizations submitting applications requesting the maximum $4,500,000 must ensure that their sub-grantees cumulatively serve at least 563 participants over 39 months; non-intermediary organizations submitting applications requesting the maximum $1,500,000 must serve at least 188 participants over 39 months.

Eligibility: Intermediary organizations (defined as organizations that have an affiliate network or offices in at least three communities and across at least two states) or community-based organizations (CBO) (defined as organizations with single sites or multiple sites within one state) may apply. Applicants may propose to serve either adults (ages 25 or older) or young adults (ages 18-24) in each application but may not serve both adults and young adults in the same application. Applicants may submit up to one application to serve adults and up to one application to serve young adults for a total of two applications.

Additionally, all applicants must comply with the eligibility requirements below:

• Eligible applicants targeting adults are limited to nonprofit community-or faith-based organizations with IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, including women’s and minority organizations. Applicants must provide services in an urbanized area or urban cluster, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau.
• Eligible applicants targeting young adults are limited to either community- or faith-based organizations with IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, including women’s and minority organizations; state or local governments; or any Indian and Native American entity eligible for grants under Section 166 of WIOA. Applicants targeting young adults may be rural or urban-serving organizations.

All projects must serve high-crime, high-poverty communities. High-crime and high-poverty communities are defined as:

• High-poverty: communities with poverty rates of at least 25 percent as exhibited through the use of American Community Survey (ACS) data.
• High-crime: communities with crime rates within the targeted area that are higher than the rate for the overall city (for urban areas) or of non-metropolitan counties in the state (for rural areas). (For more information on metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties, see: http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/rural-economy-population/rural-classifications.aspx.)

The Department is particularly interested in organizations that have demonstrated programmatic capability serving justice-involved individuals.

Link: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=292653

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