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Friday, November 14, 2014
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Commerce’s Economic Development Administration Now Accepting Proposals for Coordinating Efforts to Identify, Promote, and Expand Best Practices for Industry-Driven Regional Job Training

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker today announced that the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is accepting proposals for a national partner to help coordinate the Accelerating Industry-led Regional Partnerships for Talent Development ­­Program, a new learning exchange that will focus on building critical regional partnerships to accelerate job skills development across America.

“President Obama and I are committed to supporting a talented and skilled workforce for today’s 21^st century jobs. Ensuring that our regions have the skilled workforce they need to keep our businesses strong and our economy growing is a major priority for the Administration and the Department of Commerce,” said Secretary Pritzker. “Through a public-private partnership, this program will establish a regional learning exchange to identify and accelerate best practices of industry-led skills development that addresses the needs of both our workers and employers and best positions our regions to compete in a global economy.”

Under the Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) published today, EDA seeks a national partner that will work with the Department of Commerce to launch a regional learning exchange that will identify, promote, and expand on successful best practices for industry-driven regional partnerships for talent development.

EDA will select a partner that will:

• Promote cross-partnership learning across regions to build, sustain, and scale existing and new regional partnerships for talent development that support regional economic development.
• Convene and learn from regional partnerships that have demonstrated success in addressing the talent development needs of business and industry.
• Inform the long-term talent and skills development strategy for EDA and ways to increase sustainability, scalability, and continuous improvement.

The partner organization, through a cooperative agreement, will be responsible for the following:

• Developing selection criteria and administering a competitive selection process to identify participating regions.
• Administering the Learning Exchange.
• Developing, disseminating, and actively engaging regions across the country (including those not participating in the Learning Exchange) on best practices, successful tools, and other “what works” strategies.
• Identifying sustainability and scalability mechanisms to build on the scope of work and continue - after the lifespan of this award - to increase the sustainability, scalability, and escalation of regional partnerships for talent development through both existing efforts and new efforts.

The deadline for proposals is January 9, 2015. Proposals should incorporate the Job-Driven Training Checklist from the recently released White House report, Ready to Work: Job-Driven Training and American Opportunity.

Applicants are encouraged to refer to the FFO for eligibility, matching-fund requirements, application and submission deadlines, and other information. EDA anticipates an eighteen (18) month project period, subject to the availability of funds, EDA policy, and satisfactory performance under the award. 

The program is being funded through EDA’s Research and Evaluation program, which supports the development of tools, recommendations, and resources that shape Federal economic development policies and inform economic development decision-making at the local level.

About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov)
The mission of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation's regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA makes investments in economically distressed communities in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation, and accelerate long-term sustainable economic growth.