Section 850.100  Grant Award Selection

Grants will be awarded by the Department to Climate Works Hubs following a merit review by the Department and pursuant to GATA requirements (44 Ill. Adm. Code 7000.350).  The Department will award up to three total grants for each round of funding, representing each of the three areas identified in Section 850.40(b).  All applications will be sorted by proposed region. The highest scoring applications per region will be prioritized. The final grant awards will be negotiated by the Department based on the applications' alignment with the requirements of the Program. The purpose of negotiations will be to arrive at acceptable grant terms, including budgetary and scope of work provisions, at which time the final decision to make a grant award will be made. In evaluating applications, the Department will consider the criteria listed below:

a)         Whether the applicant meets the eligibility criteria (Section 850.40).

b)         The applicant team's qualifications and capacity, including:

1)         Capacity and expertise for successful and timely completion of pre-apprenticeship training and administration tasks;

2)         Expertise and capacity to deliver a wide variety of wrap-around services (barrier reduction) in a timely and efficient manner;

3)         Relevant experience and administrative performance on similar grants and projects (workforce training and support service administration);

4)         Relevant experience working with and the capacity to recruit from the identified target populations;

5)         Relevant experience and qualifications of the applicant team's staff, including partners, subcontractors and subrecipients, to be assigned to deliver training and support services; and

6)         Relevant experience and qualifications of the applicant team's staff to work with and connect participants to registered apprenticeship programs and contractors.

c)         The applicant organization's documentation of need, including:

1)         The applicant project's focus on specific equity investment eligible communities or populations, identification of barriers that these target communities or populations may face, and workforce needs in target communities;

2)         Identification of the region or regions where this project will operate (see Section 850.40(b)) and the specific locations where the training will be offered;

3)         The applicant project's target construction and building trades and the need for expansion of clean energy jobs and apprenticeship programs in these trades, as demonstrated through local and regional labor market information; and

4)         The expected impact of the applicant's project on the identified target communities, populations, and job growth in target trades.

d)         The quality of the proposed project; including:

1)         The applicant's pre-apprenticeship training program design, curriculum and methods of delivery, including clean energy topics. Additional scoring credit will be given to applicant programs that have an agreement with the North American Building Trades Unions (NABTU) to utilize the Multi-Craft Core Curriculum or successor curriculums [20 ILCS 730/5-40(d-5)];

2)         The applicant's plan to recruit participants and assist with enrollment;

3)         Program goals and outcomes including number of students served, industry recognized skills, certifications, apprenticeship placements, other advanced training and employment;

4)         The applicant's plan for delivering Energy Transition Barrier Reduction Program Services (wrap-around services) to facilitate access to and completion of training program, including a list of services to be provided;

5)         The applicant's plan to help participants transition to registered apprenticeship programs and the partnership agreements with registered apprenticeship programs or contractors;

6)         The applicant's plan to address equity in program design, recruitment, wrap-around supports and apprenticeship transition services; and

7)         The applicant's plan to track program outcomes, assess the program and use this information to improve program delivery.

e)         The cost-effectiveness of the applicant's proposed program; including:

1)         The reasonableness of the proposed project costs in relation to the planned outcomes (cost per participant) and the proposed activities;

2)         The reasonableness of the proposed costs per eligible participant for Energy Transition Barrier Reduction wrap-around services in relation to proposed services; and

3)         The applicant's ability to leverage existing programs, services and partnerships to improve cost-effectiveness, return on investment, and long-term sustainability of the program.