Department of Labor February 16, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), announces the availability of approximately $2.5 million in grant funds for demand-driven regional approaches to meeting the workforce challenges of the long-term care sector of the health care industry under the President's High Growth Job Training Initiative. The President's High Growth Job Training Initiative (HGJTI) is a strategic effort to prepare workers for new and increasing job opportunities in high-growth, high-demand, and economically vital industries and sectors of the American economy. Through the initiative, ETA identifies high-growth, high-demand industries, evaluates their skill needs, and funds local and national partnership-based demonstration projects that: (a) Address workforce challenges identified by employers; and (b) prepare workers for good jobs with career pathways in these rapidly expanding or transforming industries. When linked to broader regional economic and talent development strategies, the HGJTI approach strengthens regional employment and economic opportunities. The products, models, and effective approaches that result from HGJTI investments will be broadly disseminated to employers, education and training providers, and the workforce system to build their capacity to respond to employers' workforce needs. Grant funds awarded under this Solicitation for Grant Applications (SGA) should be used to implement industry-driven training solutions that address the long-term care sector's critical workforce challenges. Each solution must take place in the context of a regional strategic partnership between the workforce investment system, long-term care employers, and education and training providers, as well as other public and private sector partners that bring critical assets to the table. Proposed solutions should take full advantage of existing workforce development models, promising practices, and tools. Solutions must either take an existing promising solution, model, or approach to scale in the region or adapt a solution that has been demonstrated to have positive impact on the identified workforce development challenges in another region. Applicants may be public, private for-profit, and private non- profit organizations. It is anticipated that average individual awards will be approximately $500,000.

In response to the subject solicitation, inquiries have been received regarding the requirements of the solicitation. This notice publishes the inquiries and the responses to the inquiries. Due to the pending closing date of February 23, 2007 no further questions will be entertained.