Section 820.70  Form of Grant Applications

a)         The Department will post one or more Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) on the GATA Grantee Portal (https://grants.illinois.gov/portal/) seeking applications from eligible organizations contingent upon available funds.  Applicants shall submit their application materials by the deadlines set by the Department in the NOFO, which will be at least 30 days after the NOFO posting. The Department also may accept applications on a rolling basis with no set deadline.

b)         The applicants will be required to submit an application package to the Department, which will include the following:

1)         Uniform grant application;

2)         Uniform budget template;

3)         Conflict of interest disclosure form;

4)         Mandatory disclosures form;

5)         Executive summary or similar requirement, which describes the applicant team, geographic regions to be served, partnership organizations, if applicable, the services to be provided and eligible populations to be served, anticipated goals and outcomes of the project, and the grant amount requested;

6)         Budget narrative;

7)         Technical proposal, which describes the program activities and outcomes that the applicant will support if selected and must include the following information:

A)        The applicant organization's documentation of need (e.g., identification of the specific targeted communities and populations and the barriers they may face, workforce needs in the target communities and expected impact of the proposed project on specific communities and populations).

B)        The applicant organization's capacity and qualifications to execute the project according to the requirements of the Program (e.g., staff capacity and CEJA program knowledge, experience and performance on similar grants and projects, experience working with populations from economically disadvantaged communities, equity investment eligible persons, equity focused populations and individuals impacted by climate change, experience addressing barriers to employment, and connections to organizations such as statewide and local workforce development systems, economic development organizations, educational institutions, Small Business Development Centers, APEX Accelerators, labor unions and industry leaders).

C)        A description of the applicant's proposed project design and implementation (e.g., program goals and expected outcomes, approach to conducting participant education, outreach and engagement, project work plan, how the applicant will assist CEJA workforce and contractor participants to enroll in programs and connect them to barrier reduction services, plan to engage with other state and local workforce and contractor resources including, employers, apprenticeship programs and labor unions, and a plan to assess and report on the program activities).

continuous manner.

D)        Information demonstrating the cost effectiveness of the applicant's proposed program (e.g., justification of the main budget expense items, an analysis of the cost-efficiency, and the ability for the applicant to leverage existing programs to improve cost-effectiveness, return on investment and long-term sustainability of the program).

8)         Resumes of existing key program staff that demonstrate the capacity to complete the work outlined in the application.  For key staff and instructor positions that will need to be filled using Program funds, include a job description for each position, including individual qualifications sought for each position;

9)         Partnership agreements or other agreements between the applicant and its partner or subcontractor organizations for the project. The agreements must detail the entity's information, key staff information, roles and responsibilities associated with the project and dollar amounts for specific services to be rendered; and

10)       Any additional information required to demonstrate the applicant's ability to administer a Program or that further supports the information submitted by the applicant for the proposed project.