Last week, the Women’s Bureau announced the availability of nearly $1.3 million in grant funds to boost women’s participation and success in skilled jobs.
The WANTO Technical Assistance Grant Program is designed to help employers and labor unions recruit, train, and retain women in apprenticeship and nontraditional occupations. This year, grant funds will be awarded up to four community-based organizations to provide one or more of the following types of technical assistance:
- Developing pre-apprenticeship or nontraditional skills training programs
- Providing ongoing orientations for employers, unions, and workers; and/or
- Setting up support groups and facilitating networks for women.
Grantees may work with employers and labor unions in the full range of industries in which women are traditionally underrepresented or disproportionately concentrated in lower-wage occupations, including advanced manufacturing, energy, healthcare, information technology, and transportation.
Applications are due August 23, 2017. Click here to view the solicitation for grant applications. Find answers to frequently asked questions here.
To learn more about resources and opportunities for women in apprenticeship and nontraditional occupations, check out the Women’s Bureau’s Women Build, Protect and Move America portal.