1. Apprenticeship Standards

California Opportunity Youth Apprenticeship (COYA) Grant

The California Opportunity Youth Apprenticeship (COYA) Grant is a new funding source to develop and test innovative practices to increase the participation of opportunity youth in pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs, and to demonstrate the impact of apprenticeship on employment and earnings outcomes for opportunity youth.

COYA was established in SB 191 for the purposes of awarding grant funds to eligible applicants to provide funding for existing apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs or to develop new apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs to serve opportunity youth and satisfy the goals and objectives of the grant program.

Timeline

Applications Open: February 5, 2024
Applications Close: March 15, 2024, 5pm PST

All inquires and proposals must be submitted by the dates listed in the box below

Funding Details

Type of Funding: Grant
Estimated Total Funding: $25,000,000
Award Amount:

• Pre-Apprenticeship Grants up to $300,000
• Apprenticeship Grants up to $500,000
• 1–2-year grant period

Implementation Grant

• Pre-Apprenticeship Grants up to $500,000 - $2,000,000
• Up to $12,000 per pre-apprentice with a split of:
• $6,000 per pre-apprentice for supportive services, training, recruitment, administrative costs, and other allowable expenses.
• Up to $6,000 per pre-apprentice to go towards an educational stipend during pre-apprenticeship training. 100% of this funding must go to pre-apprentice. This is NOT a wage supplement since a Pre-Apprenticeship should not have paid OJT, but rather the intent of this funding is that it is an educational stipend to participants during training.
• Apprenticeship Grants up to $500,000 - $2,000,000
• Up to $10,000 per Apprentice
• Focus on the supportive services for opportunity youth apprentices and providing funding for getting a program launched and scaled.
• Funding priority will be given to those that utilize more of the funding for supportive services.
• Two-and-a-half year grant period

All Grants will be paid 25% of the grant with an approved first quarter progress report. Then quarterly reimbursement of actual costs with the final 25% of expenses reported but not reimbursed because paid in the first quarter.

Resources

The CA Opportunity Youth Apprenticeship Grant is now open for applications.

In order to apply, first carefully review the COYA Solicitation for Proposals and COYA Questions and Answers

Then fill out and submit all proposal materials by email to DASGrantUnit@dir.ca.gov by March 15, 2024 at 5pm PST:

• Exhibit A – Cover Signature Page - Word | PDF
• Exhibit B – Proposal Narrative - Word | PDF
• Exhibit C – Outcomes and Deliverables - Word | PDF
• Exhibit D – Participant Plan - Word | PDF
• Exhibit E – Budget Summary - Word | PDF
• Exhibit F – Budget Narrative - Word | PDF
• Standard Form 204
• Include Additional Letters of Support or MOUs as applicable

More Information:

Sector: The focus of the COYA Grant is on Interagency Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship (IACA) connected programs. These are programs that serve occupations across all sectors of the economy except for the building trades. As examples, this includes healthcare, education, advanced manufacturing, information technology, public sector, transportation and more. Programs serving occupations in the fire trades are eligible to apply for this funding, however any proposal serving these occupations must be approved by the California Apprenticeship Council (CAC). The grant program does not apply to building and construction trades programs that are within the jurisdiction of the CAC.

Target population: DAS is summarizing the target population for COYA with the term “opportunity youth,” which in the context of this funding opportunity includes individuals from 16 to 24 years of age who are at risk of disconnection or are disconnected from the education system or employment, unhoused, in the child welfare, juvenile justice, or criminal legal systems, living in concentrated poverty, or are facing barriers to labor market participation. Opportunity youth include those that face chronic opportunity educational achievement gaps, attend schools in communities of concentrated poverty, or attend high schools with a negative school climate.

All grantees will need to demonstrate that participants are within the eligible age range and obtain proof that a participant meets one of the following criteria:

• Current or former foster youth
• Currently or formerly Pell eligible
• Currently or formerly WIOA Youth or Adult eligible
• Currently or formerly enrolled in a Title 1 school.
• Residing in a high poverty census tract
• Formerly incarcerated
• Youth parent
• Person with disability

Eligible Applicants: Under the grant program, services shall be delivered primarily through collaborative, mission-driven, community-based organizations with experience in providing services to, and with relevant relationships with opportunity youth, consistent with the objectives of the grant program. Eligible grant applicants must demonstrate a history of at least 2 years of serving opportunity youth in education, employment or workforce programs and have demonstrated successes in supporting opportunity youth to access employment. Eligible entity types must be:

• Non-profit Community-Based Organizations
• Workforce Development Boards
• Unions
• Local Education Agencies
• Community Colleges
• County offices of education
• K-12
• Adult Education
• Regional Occupational Programs
• Regional consortia of community college districts
• Apprenticeship Intermediaries
• Apprenticeship program sponsors

Note: For Profit entities are not eligible for this funding.

DAS shall require that grant recipients demonstrate a commitment to high road principles, as described in subdivision (r) of Section 14005 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, and shall evaluate the performance of recipients based on those principles.

Contacts: Division of Apprenticeship Standards (State of CA)
1515 Clay St, 19th Floor, Ste 190, Oakland CA 94612
(415) 703-4920
DASGrantUnit@dir.ca.gov

Grantor’s homepage: Division of Apprenticeship Standards

March 2024