Weekly Summary of Selected Federal resources and info for the Week of September 18, 2017

The following is a selection of recent announcements gleaned from various federal sources and colleagues, and is provided to EDA’s Economic Development Integrators to increase our awareness of complementary resources for economic development. Special thanks to ETA and other federal partners for sharing content included below.

Click here to view all weekly federal announcement posts.


Contents

Funding & Resource Announcements

 New Announcements re: Funding Available: 2

Public Meetings, Events and Training

Reports, Tools and Data.

Also of Interest.

 

Funding & Resource Announcements

New Announcements re: Funding Available:

DOL Commits $40 Million for Hurricane Irma Relief

The U.S. Department of Labor has initially committed up to $40 million in Disaster Dislocated Worker Grant funding to Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands to assist in disaster response efforts after Hurricane Irma. These grants were first announced on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017. The amount of total funding announced today may increase as the needs and impacts on state and local partners are assessed following the hurricane.

SBA Seeking New Host Institution for Northeastern California SBDC Network.  Due Oct 31

The Office of Small Business Development Centers has posted a Program Announcement on grants.gov (OSBDC-2018-04 for CY2018), seeking to fill the vacancy of the Host Institution for Northeast California SBDC Program serving Northeast California. SBA invites proposals for funding from eligible entities which are institutions of higher education and Women’s Business Centers. Only applications that are submitted by these entities will be considered for funding. For-profit businesses are not eligible for this award.

Opening Date: September 5, 2017

Closing Date for Proposals: October 31, 2017

For more information, see http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=297022

 

HUD Announces Funding Available for Jobs Plus Pilot Program: Public Housing Authorities May Apply by Nov 17

The purpose of the Jobs Plus Pilot program is to develop locally-based, job-driven approaches to increase earnings and advance employment outcomes through work readiness, employer linkages, job placement, educational advancement, technology skills, and financial literacy for residents of public housing. The place-based Jobs Plus Pilot program addresses poverty among public housing residents by incentivizing and enabling employment through earned income disregards for working families, and a set of services designed to support work including employer linkages, job placement and counseling, educational advancement, and financial counseling. Ideally, these incentives will saturate the target developments, building a culture of work and making working families the norm.

 

The Jobs Plus Pilot program consists of the following three core components: Employment-Related Services Financial Incentives; Jobs Plus Earned Income Disregard (JPEID) Community Supports for Work Applicants are encouraged to develop key partnerships to connect participants with any other needed services to remove barriers to work. Successful applicants must partner with the Department of Labor Workforce Investment Board (WIB) and American Job Center (AJC)/One-Stop in their area to offer multiple employment-related services for residents with a range of employment needs.

Applications are due November 17, 2017.

View the Grant Opportunity HERE

Non-Federal Funding Opportunities:

JPMorgan Chase Plans Investment of $40 Million In Chicago’s Struggling Neighborhoods

From FORBES

JPMorgan Chase plans to invest some $40 million over three years in small business assistance, real estate development and jobs training programs in Chicago, to help rebuild some of the city’s most marginalized neighborhoods. JPMorgan Chase’s approach, which it refers to as “philanthropic investment,” involves working with nonprofits to channel financing to developers, entrepreneurs and homeowners who struggle to get bank loans; the bank also funds programs that help workers who don’t have college degrees train for “middle skill” jobs that pay better

The initiative is the bank’s biggest expansion to date of an approach to economic recovery that it launched in Detroit in 2014, with encouraging results so far. Fortune described the bank’s “Invested in Detroit” program in a cover story in the magazine’s current issue.

JPMorgan Chase’s rebuilding strategy relies heavily on finding strong local partners, ideally nonprofits that have good relationships with local business and political leaders. “If they’re collaborating well already, then we can focus on supporting them with the expertise that we bring to the table,” says Peter Scher, the bank’s head of corporate responsibility.

Recently Announced Awards:

HUD Awards $55 Million for Projects in 77 Native American Communities

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) this week awarded $55.2 million to 77 Native American tribes throughout the country to improve housing conditions and to stimulate economic development in their communities. HUD’s Indian Community Development Block Grant (ICDBG) Program is a competitive program that supports a wide range of community development and affordable housing activities, from new housing for individual families to community amenities like rec  centers or water lines.

With a deep need for more affordable housing in tribal communities, most of this year’s project winners will use their ICDBG funds to build homes or to rehabilitate dilapidated housing, in order to alleviate homelessness, relieve overcrowding, and avoid members having to leave their community – spurring jobs and economic development along the way.

Listing of Grantees

 

 

Energy Department Invests up to $32 Million to Improve Resilience of the Nation’s Power Grid

DOE announced up to $32 million for seven Resilient Distribution Systems projects, which will support early stage research and development of next-generation tools and technologies that will further improve the resilience of the nation’s electric grid.  This is the second round of funding under the Department’s Grid Modernization Initiative, a DOE-wide collaboration primarily supported by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability.

This investment builds on DOE’s ongoing efforts to set the nation on a path to the rapid development and widespread adoption of tools and technologies that will help create a more resilient, secure, sustainable, and reliable grid that can meet the demands of the 21st century and beyond.

EERE’s Building Technologies Office, Solar Energy Technologies Office, and Water Power Technologies Office will fund up to half of the lab call awards. These offices are interested in using their technologies to support a more resilient electricity system. For example, one of the projects will focus on restoring electricity through the use of distributed energy resources, energy storage, and microgrids.

The seven Resilient Distribution Systems projects were awarded to DOE’s Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC), which will develop and validate innovative approaches to enhance the resilience of distribution systems, including microgrids, with high levels of clean, distributed energy resources and emerging grid technologies at regional scale.

 

U.S. Department of Education Awards $20 Million to Support Educators of English Learner Students

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) announced today the awarding of $20 million in grants under the National Professional Development Program (NPD), to support educators of English learner students.

The NPD program provides grants to eligible institutions of higher education and public or private entities with relevant experience and capacity, in consortia with states or districts, to implement professional development activities that will improve instruction for English Learners (ELs).

The Department projects this new cohort of 42 grants will serve approximately 1,796 pre-service and 9,731 in-service teachers.

Public Meetings, Events and Training

CDFA Presents Webinar on Sept 21: How HUD’s Section 108 Loan Program Can Be Layered with Other Finance Tools to Support Community Development

An advisory from CDFA on an upcoming September 21 (1:00 p.m. Eastern) webinar

The Section 108 Loan Program is a uniquely flexible federal financing tool that enables communities around the country to invest in essential economic development, housing rehabilitation, and public facilities projects by transforming CDBG allocations into federally guaranteed loans. In this CDFA webcast, hear from HUD officials and experienced users of the Section 108 program on how the program has been used around the country, and how it can be layered with other development finance tools to support community development.

There is a cost for registration. See here for more info: Registration / speakers

Testimony from September 13 House Hearing: Building a 21st Century Infrastructure for America – Economic Development Stakeholders’ Perspectives

The House Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management held on hearing on “Building a 21st Century Infrastructure for America” on September 13

Summary of Subject Matter                        Video / Chair Statements

Witnesses

  • Mr. Bill Seigel, Assistant Executive Director, SEDA-Council of Governments | Written Testimony 
  • Mr. Justin Hembree, Executive Director, Land of Sky Regional Council; National Association of Development Organizations | Written Testimony 
  • Mr. Brett Doney, CEcD, SCLA, AICP, President and CEO, Great Falls Development Authority, Great Falls, Montana; International Economic Development Council | Written Testimony 
  • Mr. Steve Linkous, President and CEO, Harford Mutual Insurance Company; National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies; BuildStrong Coalition | Written Testimony 
  • Ms. Jessica Grannis, JD, LLM, Adaption Program Manager, Georgetown Climate Center | Written Testimony 

Upcoming Economic Development Related Conferences

·         Best Practices-Innovations in Career & Technical Education (Sept 27-29) Albuquerque NM

·         UEDA Annual Summit (October 1 – 4), Long Beach, CA

·         Transforming Appalachia Embracing Change to Drive Progress, Pittsburgh (Oct 17 – 19)

·         CDFA National Development Finance Summit (November 15-17), Atlanta, Georgia

·         Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities Annual Meeting, Washington DC (Nov 12–14)

Reports, Tools and Data

Infrastructure Projects: CEQ Publishes Initial List of Actions to Modernize the Federal Environmental Review and Authorization Process

The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) , on September 14, published its initial list of actions pursuant to Executive Order 13807 of August 15, 2017, titled “Establishing Discipline and Accountability in the Environmental Review and Permitting Process for Infrastructure Projects,” and published on August 24, 2017. This Initial List of Actions will be available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/ceq and on the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Web site at https://ceq.doe.gov/.

More …

 

Study Highlights Growth Opportunities for Innovative Manufacturing in Pacific Northwest Wood Products Industry

 

From the News Review Today

An article in the The News-Review (OR)  features a new study prepared in concert with the Pacific Northwest Manufacturing Partnership, which was a designee in the federal Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership initiative, describes the process to determine feasibility of this new growth sector.

The report includes the following excerpt:

Oregon BEST partnered with eight regional stakeholders to evaluate the potential of and accelerate the developing market for CLT (mass timber panels) in Oregon and Southwest Washington. With funding from the Economic Development Administration (EDA), Oregon BEST and its partners have conducted research to provide a realistic assessment of CLT’s market potential in this region. The study aimed to answer key questions about the developing panel market in Oregon and southwest Washington. In a basic sense, these questions were:

  • Is the mass timber panel market a feasible and sustainable market in Oregon?
  • How much of the domestic US market could CLT and other mass timber products penetrate?
  • Based on that demand, can regional forest & lumber producers supply enough raw material?
  • Which companies could the region look at to come online as a producer?
  • How would the estimated demand impact Oregon & SW Washington?
  • What are the barriers to accelerating the CLT market?
  • What support and/or resources do Oregon partners need to continue moving forward?

The full study is here: Accelerating_CLT_Manufacturing_in_Oregon_SW_Washington_2017__Oregon_BEST_.pdf

 

BLS Releases Job Openings and Labor Turnover Report (July 2017)

 

On September 12, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the number of job openings was little changed at 6.2 million on the last business day of July. The job openings rate was 4.0 percent.

 

The number of job openings was little changed for total private and decreased for government (-58,000). Job openings increased in a number of industries with the largest increases occurring in other services (+111,000), transportation, warehousing, and utilities (+70,000), and educational services (+26,000). Job openings decreased in health care and social assistance (-72,000), state and local government, excluding education (-46,000), and federal government (-21,000).

News Release with Coverage of Hires and Separations / Access to Datasets

DOL Case Studies on Apprenticeship Promising Practices: Aligning State Systems and Partnerships

 

In 2016, DOL provided State Apprenticeship Expansion (SAE) grants to 36 states and 1 territory to grow apprenticeship. Grantees are using funds to deepen business engagement, build and diversify the pipeline of apprentices, and too integrate apprenticeship into states’ broader workforce development, economic development, and educational systems.

DOL’s Apprenticeship USA webpage has more information on promising practices learned from these grants. Three brief Case Studies and a five-minute video tell their stories.

Online Resources for Partners in WOIA One-Stop and American Jobs Centers

The One-Stop and American Job Centers Webinars and Webcasts “Direct Access” Page provides a collection of key webinars presented to assist the workforce system with operationalizing the one-stop delivery system under Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

 

The set of 11 webinars begin with an overview of the One-Stop Delivery System, followed by a host of other key WIOA implementation topics such as WIOA partnerships, establishing MOUs and infrastructure funding agreements, and American Job Center branding.

Also of Interest

Federal Contracts: DOL’s Wage and Hour Division Publishes Notice Regarding Applicable Minimum Wage Rate

 

The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (the Department) has published a September 15 FEDERAL REGISTER notice to announce the applicable minimum wage rate to be paid to workers performing work on or in connection with Federal contracts covered by Executive Order 13658, beginning January 1, 2018.

 

Senate Confirms HUD Deputy Secretary

The U.S. Senate today (September 14) confirmed President Trump’s nomination of Pamela Patenaude to serve as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). As Deputy Secretary, Ms. Patenaude will lead the Department’s Disaster Management Group (DMG) and will play a primary leadership and operational role in coordinating the long-term recovery efforts of 16 program and support offices within HUD, including the Offices of Public and Indian Housing, Community Planning and Development, Policy Development and Research, and Housing / Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

SBA is Hiring Temporary Positions for Hurricane Recovery Assistance

 

The Small Business Administration is hiring temporary employees to assist with disaster relief efforts this hurricane season from September 1st to December 31st, 2017. Bilingual language skills a plus.

Full details at www.sba.gov/DisasterJobs

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