Does your organization serve in a rural area with extremely high energy costs? The USDA wants to help through its Utilities Program by offering $10 million in competitive grants to acquire, construct, or improve energy generation, transmission, or distribution facilities in these communities. The EPA is providing funds to organizations who can provide job training to unemployed and under-employed individuals to help them secure full-time employment in the environmental field. And the Department of Defense has announced its Troops to Teachers Program. This grant will provide funds to State Education Agencies to help former members of the armed forces transition into second careers.
Utilities Programs
Grant Title: Assistance to High Energy Cost Communities
Grant Info: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=298063
Details: The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), announces the availability of up to $10 million in competitive grants to assist communities with extremely high energy costs. The grant funds may be used to acquire, construct, or improve energy generation, transmission, or distribution facilities serving communities where the average annual residential expenditure for home energy exceeds 275% of the national average. Eligible projects also include on-grid and off-grid renewable energy projects and the implementation of energy efficiency and energy conservation projects for eligible communities. Projects cannot be for the primary benefit of a single household or business. Grant funds may not be used for the preparation of the grant application, payment of utility bills, fuel purchases, routine maintenance or other routine operating costs, or for the purchase of any equipment, structures, or real estate not directly associated with the provision of community energy services. See the Notice of Solicitation of Applications published October 12, 2017, at 82 FR 47446.
Environmental Protection Agency
Grant Title: FY18 ENVIRONMENTAL WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AND JOB TRAINING (EWDJT) GRANTS
Grant Info: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=298017
Details: This notice announces the availability of funds and solicits proposals from eligible entities, including nonprofit organizations, to deliver Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training programs that recruit, train, and place local, unemployed and under-employed residents with the skills needed to secure full-time employment in the environmental field. Please note that eligible entities who received an EWDJT grant in Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) are not eligible to apply for funding in FY18.
Department of Defense
Grant Title: Troops to Teachers Program
Grant Info: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=298022
Details: Congress enacted the Troops to Teachers (TTT) Program in 1993 to assist eligible current and former members of the armed forces to transition into second careers as teachers. Within the Department of Defense (DoD), the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness, Force Education, is responsible for program policy, funding and oversight. The TTT National Office, located within the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES), is responsible for day-to-day operations and management of the program. Authorizing statute in 10 USC 1154(h) (2) (A), permits the Secretary of Defense to make grants to states or consortia of such states in order to support efforts of recruiting eligible current and former members of the armed forces for participation in the TTT Program and facilitating the employment of participants as elementary school teachers, secondary school teachers, and career or technical teachers.