Back in October 2018, Governor Cooper announced the expansion of his NC Job Ready Initiative.
The NCWorks Local Innovation Fund will support efforts of communities across North Carolina to meet workforce challenges through a competitive grant process.
As part of Governor Roy Cooper’s NC Job Ready initiative, the $2 million fund will finance grants to communities to pilot innovative programs or adapt and replicate successful program models that address local or regional workforce issues.
The fund will support projects that do one or more of the following:
- Address an underserved community or population currently disconnected from the education and workforce system;
- Bring together diverse community organizations;
- Increase educational attainment;
- Develop talent pipelines for in-demand, high-wage occupations.
- To be eligible for grants, community teams must include the local workforce development board and should also include education, community, labor and business leaders.
Two types of grants were made available:
- One-year “capacity grants” of up to $100,000 to assist communities that need additional capacity building to strengthen partnerships, identify community needs and resources, and build local support; and
- Two-year “implementation grants” of up to $400,000 to assist communities that already have a collaborative team and an innovative idea ready for implementation, and have built the local support needed to be successful.
The State received 34 applications and today, Governor Cooper announced the six winners. Region Q was one of those six! We applied and received a one-year, $100,000 capacity grant. This grant will allow us to build up our community resources and strengthen our regional partnerships. More details will be forthcoming.
Pictured below are the six Workforce Development Board Directors along with Stephanie Deese, North Carolina Association of Workforce Development Boards Executive Director, Annie Izod, NCWorks Commission Executive Director, and Liz Crabill, Chief Deputy Secretary of Commerce.
FEB
2019