Summary

Provides both seasoned and first-time Employment and Training Administration (ETA) grant applicants with guidance on ETA's grant programs, the competitive grant application process, developing a competitive grant application, and application review process.

Description

“[This web-based toolkit is] an interactive, self-paced Web guide on Employment and Training Administration's (ETA) grant-making process, designed specifically for small community organizations and first-time applicants for ETA funding. The guide addresses ETA’s grant-making mission; its funding priorities; the Agency’s grant application solicitation and evaluation processes; and “how-to” guidance on crafting responsive and potentially competitive grant applications...[The interactive and printer-friendly] annotated sample Solicitation for Grant Applications (SGA)…includes annotations…[with] comment notes that provide readers with information related to specific sections and general requirements of an ETA SGA; related helpful websites; and hyperlinks that take readers to additional outside resources...to support applicants in developing more comprehensive and potentially competitive proposals.” (Abstractor: Author, Website Staff)

Major Findings & Recommendations

Key tips for prospective ETA grant applicants include:

•“Become familiar with ETA grantmaking [priorities]” (p.6).
•Review SGAs to “find open grant competition opportunities” (p.7).
•Read the SGA thoroughly and “become familiar with all of its contents and requirements” (p.8)
•“Understand [ETA’s] evaluation of applications” process, as each grant application is evaluated, receives a score based on evaluation criteria, and is then ranked for the selection of funding (p.12).
•“Outline a plan for application development…based upon the evaluation criteria framework” (p.14).
•When developing your application show that you “understand the context…use data to establish need…align your project with the SGA…demonstrate [your] experience and capacity…provide evidence of partnerships…discuss leveraged resources…connect with other efforts…discuss outcomes and deliverables…[and] offer a reasonable budget” (p.17-26).(Abstractor: Author)