ARC Application Development Grants for Fourth Round of
TAACCCT Grant Program

ARC is making available $75,000 in funding to help organizations serving the Appalachian Region develop applications for the fourth round of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant program, a multiyear initiative implemented by the U.S. Departments of Labor and Education to expand targeted training programs for unemployed workers, especially those impacted by foreign trade. The TAACCCT program will provide higher education institutions with funds to expand and improve their ability to deliver education and career training programs that can be completed in two years or less and that result in skills, degrees, and credentials that prepare program participants for employment in high‐wage, high‐skill occupations and are suited for workers eligible for training under the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Workers program. Approximately $450 million will be made available for the fourth round of TAACCCT funding.

The TAACCCT solicitation for grant applications (SGA) published on April 16 at www.grants.gov provides detailed guidelines for submitting a TAACCCT funding application. ARC plans to reimburse organizations up to $5,000 each for costs incurred in developing their application. Reimbursable costs include expenses directly related to the development and writing of the application, including the costs of professional grantwriting services (either external or internal to the organization(s) applying for the grants), costs for limited travel to facilitate meetings with the grantwriter and application partners, and reasonable costs for meetings between partners and grantwriters.

To be eligible for reimbursement of application development expenses, applicants must submit to ARC a letter of intent to participate in the TAACCCT program by 5:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, April 30, 2014. Applicants must send their letter of intent by email to wpaine@arc.gov. The letter must include a point of contact in the applicant's organization, a list of the proposed partner organizations/applicant team members, and the area served by the program. ARC funding is limited for this activity and may not be sufficient to fund all requests. Applicants are encouraged to submit their letters of intent and accompanying information early to guarantee consideration of their reimbursement request.

Applicants to ARC will be notified of their eligibility for reimbursement by May 14, 2014. To receive reimbursement, applicants will be asked to provide ARC with a list of actual expenses incurred in putting together the application, and evidence that their application was successfully uploaded via www.grants.gov to the TAACCCT program by the application deadline: 4:00 p.m. ET on July 7, 2014. Only the lead applicant for each application will be eligible for reimbursement.

Questions about the ARC application development grants can be directed to Office of the Federal Co-Chair program analyst Wilson Paine at wpaine@arc.gov.

TAACCCT solicitation for grant applications

Additional information on the TAACCCT program and on its previous-year SGAs is available in ARC's April 16, 2014, TAACCCT announcement (PDF: 147 KB).