U.S. Department of Labor: Reentry Projects

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is seeking to enhance both adult and young adult reentry strategies through collaboration with the field to identify, define, and respond to emerging or chronic reentry challenges and issues by improving employment outcomes for these populations. ETA is seeking proposed strategies to address issues, including trying new approaches, addressing gaps in services, building or translating research knowledge, or building capacity.

The Reentry Projects initiative provides the opportunity for organizations to build customized projects from evidence-based and informed interventions or from promising practices. 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.

The focus of the 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

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 $66,000,000 is available to award up to 28 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 36 months.

• Awards of up to $1,500,000 each will be made to approximately 20 community-based organization, approximately 13  awards will be made to organizations proposing to serve adults and approximately seven awards will be made to organizations proposing to serve young adults
• Awards of up to $4,500,000 each will be made to fund eight intermediary organizations, approximately three  awards will be made to intermediaries proposing to serve adults and approximately five to intermediaries proposing to serve young adults; at least $20 million will be directed to intermediaries serving young adults

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.

Note: Applicants must use the latest available American Community Survey 5-Year data to find the cumulative poverty rate of the various Census Tracts or counties included in their target community or communities. Applicants must also compare the most recently available violent crime rate of the police precinct, sheriff’s office, county police department, or other relevant jurisdiction that most closely overlaps with their target community or communities to the violent crime rate of the overall city (for urban areas) or of non-metropolitan counties in the state (for rural areas) where each target community is located.

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

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