Government Funding Opportunities

Government Grants and Contracts
On this page you will find the grant and contract opportunities available to our partner and client businesses and our educational and non-profit partners as we become aware of them.  TARIC, the Taskforce for the Advancement of Regional Innovation Clusters, is the Obama administration's support group for these regional clusters.  TARIC is a collaboration of several federal agencies that will give special preference to funding projects within the established clusters.  Some of the current grant opportunities are listed below. When these grant opportunities open, they will be available at www.grants.gov.  Search by agency.

Department of Labor

Eligible applicants vary, but can include state entitites, local workforce boards, community colleges and non-profit organizations.  Applicants must partner with industry, either through employers, industry associations, business intermediaries, etc.

Upcoming Grant Competitions:

Green Pathways Innovation Fund (This fund is pending and not yet published.)
Grants for employment and training in energy efficiency and renewable energy industries ($40 million available).  

Community college and Career Training Program
Grants to community colleges and other eligible institutions of higher education to help workers who have lost their jobs or may lose their jobs due to trade ($500 million available).

Career Pathways Innovation Fund
Grants to community colleges and other eligible applicants for programs that help workers advance through career pathways to gain higher skills and wages ($125 million available).


Economic Development Agency

EDA investment assistance includes monies that may be used for public works, economic adjustment and global climate change.  Eligible applicants include units of state and local government, Indian tribes, economic development districts, public and private non-profits, universities and other institutions of higher education.

Public Works
May be used to upgrade or construct infrastructure including:
• Business incubators or proof-of-concept centers
• Workforce training facility
• Lab or other applied research facilities used by multiple companies, entrepreneurs and/or universities
• Water, sewer, rail, broadband, or other infrastructure to support industrial development
• Smart grid infrastructure

Economic Adjustment
May be used for a combination of infrastructure, planning and technical assistance tailored to the region's needs.  Examples include:
• Funding for a strategic planning and coordinating body to ensure coordiantiaon of cluster initiatives related to workforce development, education, infrastructure, regional planning, business development and expansion, business networking, technological research and commercialization, and marketing
• Planning or feasibility studies pertaining to cluster initiatives
• Market or industry research analysis related to the cluster

Global Climate Change
May be used for the same types of activities as Economic Adjustment;  however, provided that the projects support or expand the "green economy."


Copyright Barich Business Services 2012                Barich Business Services  831-462-1413  Project 17  is partially funded by a contract from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). SBA’s funding should not be construed as an endorsement of any products, opinions, or services. All SBA-funded projects are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis.