Building Pathways to Infrastructure Jobs H-1B Skills Training Grant

Eligible Applicants

Lead applicants must be a national or community-based nonprofit, labor organization, education/training provider, workforce development entity involved in administering WIOA, economic development agency, and Native American tribal government, or a state, county, or local government. 

Eligible Activities

These grants fund partnerships that will forge worker-centered sector strategies that lead to good jobs in advanced manufacturing, information technology, and occupations that support renewable energy, transportation, and broadband infrastructure. These partnerships must incorporate worker voice and emphasize Registered Apprenticeship, among other features. 

Applicants must choose one of the following tracks for this grant program:

1. Development Track: Developing and Implementing Local/Regional Worker-Centered Sector Strategy Programs; or
2. Scaling Track: Scaling Effective Worker-Centered Sector Strategy Programs.

The goal of the Development Track is to use promising training models to invest in and establish local/regional partnerships that will implement sector-based training programs across one or multiple infrastructure-related sectors. This track will support equitable participation and growth of worker-centered sector-based training programs, particularly those serving rural and smaller communities and historically marginalized, underrepresented, and underserved populations.

The goal of the Scaling Track is to scale an existing training model to the statewide or national level, that has shown demonstrated success in one infrastructure-related sector. This track will invest in statewide and national partnerships that will set the stage to enable support and growth in evidence-based worker-centered sector strategies.

Both tracks require public-private partnerships to develop workforce training programs which incorporate the following core principles into their grant project design to ensure equitable access to quality jobs:

1. strategies for ensuring diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility;
2. career pathways that lead to middle- to high-skilled employment; and
3. worker-centered sector strategies.

To embed strong worker voice into these grant projects, applicants should engage workers during the initial grant proposal development phase to ensure that worker needs and priorities and job quality are incorporated into the project design.