North Carolina Innovation Fund is sponsored by North Carolina Department of Commerce. Provides funding to support innovative projects that drive economic development in North Carolina.

NCWorks Local Innovation Fund | NC Commerce The NCWorks Local Innovation Fund is supporting efforts by communities across North Carolina to meet workforce challenges through a competitive grant process.

Established as part of Governor Roy Cooper’s NC Job Ready initiative, the fund has awarded grants to communities to pilot innovative programs or adapt and replicate successful program models that address local or regional workforce issues. To be eligible for grants, community teams must consist of partnerships of multiple organizations that will actively support the work of the grant.

Each partnership must include the local area Workforce Development Board (WDB) as the lead agency, as well as education, community, labor, and business leaders. In 2023, the Local Innovation Fund awarded two grants of up to $225,000 each, lasting for a period of two years and assisting communities that already have a collaborative team, an innovative idea, and the local support needed to be successful.

Grant teams will benefit from technical assistance during the grant period. In 2024, the Fund awarded one grant of up to $125,000, specifically related to reentry efforts. The Local Innovation Fund is an initiative of the NCWorks Commission, while the Division of Workforce Solutions within the N.

C. Department of Commerce helps administer the fund. The 37-member NCWorks Commission includes representatives from the business community, heads of state workforce agencies, educators and community leaders.

The Commission, which is designated as the state’s Workforce Development Board under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, recommends policies and strategies to enable the state’s workforce and businesses to compete in the global economy. For more information, e-mail the Commission at ncworkscommission@commerce. nc.

gov . The NCWorks Commission held a webinar to provide more information on the 2024 (Reentry) grant, on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, via Microsoft Teams. Watch a recording of this webinar here.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the 2024 (Reentry) grant. (This document may be updated, as needed.) For 2023 Grants: This is a WIOA Title I program/project, which is supported by the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor as part of an award to North Carolina totaling $66,717,353, with 0% financed from non-governmental sources.

For 2024 Grant: The source of funding for the newest Local Innovation grant is the State Fiscal Recovery Fund (SFRF), a component of the federal American Rescue Plan Act which provided $5. 4 billion to North Carolina to help turn the tide on the pandemic, address its economic fallout, and lay the foundation for a strong and equitable recovery.

Piedmont Triad Regional Workforce Development Board’s Reentry Empowerment and Workforce Integration (REWI) Initiative seeks to strengthen the region’s network of career navigation services for the justice-involved population, while also raising awareness among employers about the positive impact of inclusive hiring practices.

Through REWI, Piedmont Triad Regional WDB plans to provide training for staff at NCWorks Career Centers and other community agencies to enhance professionals’ understanding of how various programs and services can work together to meet the needs of people whose past criminal records create barriers to education and employment.

The initiative will also promote coordination and connectivity among partners, share best practices, and engage with local employers. Building Hope (Chatham, Orange and Wake counties): This grant will help address both a critical need for workers in the construction industry and gender pay disparities by increasing the number of women trained in various skilled trades.

A Chapel Hill-based nonprofit organization, Hope Renovations, provides pre-apprenticeship training in construction trades, case management to help resolve employment barriers like child care, internships and additional coaching services to help women succeed on the job. This grant will allow Hope Renovations to expand services beyond Orange County and support the training of approximately 40 participants.

Partners include Capital Area Workforce Development Board, Hope Renovations and Wake Technical Community College. OPT-IN and J. E.

T. : Creating Opportunities for Opportunity Youth (Burke County): This grant will support “opportunity youth” (those who are currently neither in the labor force nor in school) and help meet Burke County’s workforce needs by expanding the “OPT-IN” (Opportunity Internship) program and launching the “Jobs, Education, and Training” (J. E.

T.) program. OPT-IN serves recent high school graduates by matching them with local employers for an eight-week, paid exploratory internship.

Participants also receive mentoring and professional development classes. Similarly, J. E.

T. can serve any opportunity youth between the ages of 18-24, connecting them to local companies offering family-sustaining wages, while providing mentoring and professional development. Both programs will focus outreach on communities of color.

Partners include Western Piedmont Workforce Development Board, The Industrial Commons and its affiliate program “Work in Burke,” Burke Development, Inc., Western Piedmont Community College, Burke County Public Schools, NCWorks Career Center - Burke County, N. C.

Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and Meridian Specialty Yarn Group, Inc. Wilkes County Partnership/Rural Transportation : This grant supported the development of a research study and action plan for improving workforce transportation in the area.

Partners include Wilkes Community College (project lead), High Country Workforce Development Board, North Carolina Division of Workforce Solutions, the NCWorks Career Center in Wilkes County, North Carolina Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services, Goodwill Industries, Wilkes Economic Development Corporation, Wilkes County Department of Social Services and the North Wilkesboro Housing Authority.

“Good Jobs Charlotte” - Comprehensive Workforce and Education Data Project (Mecklenburg County): This grant supported a project to use data collaboratively in order to rapidly advance a vision for the ongoing role of the educational continuum in achieving economic mobility across the community.

Partners include Central Piedmont Community College (project lead), Charlotte Works, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Pathways to Purpose (Brunswick County): This grant supported a program to train construction and repair workers, particularly to fix damage from Hurricane Florence.

The project overhauls the traditional approach to delivering instruction, managing retention and awarding workforce credentials in order to keep pace with the demand on the area’s construction industry. Participants have included people who are veterans, homeless, justice-involved, in recovery from substance abuse, single parents and the underemployed/unemployed.

Partners include Brunswick Community College (project lead), Cape Fear Workforce Development Board, Brunswick Transit System, Countywide Community Development Corporation, Brunswick County Sheriff’s Department/Detention Center, Brunswick County Career Center, Waccamaw Volunteer Fire Department and Sunset Beach Fire Department.

RE-Build your Future (Rowan and Cabarrus counties): This grant supported a project to provide post-secondary training to justice-involved individuals to work in the light construction industry. Training has included Construction Trades Certification and Class B CDL certification. The program has also developed an employer education campaign with the goal of increasing the number of “second-chance” employers in the region.

Partners include Rowan-Cabarrus Community College (project lead), Centralina Workforce Development Board, the NCWorks Career Center in Cabarrus County, the North Carolina Department of Commerce Reentry Initiative, Cooperative Christian Ministries, Rowan Helping Ministries and the Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office.

WNC Early Childhood Workforce Development Program (Buncombe, Madison, Henderson and Transylvania counties): This grant supported the expansion of a program that started in Buncombe County to train more early childhood educators. The program has addressed the shortage of early childhood teachers by recruiting candidates in under-resourced communities and providing them with training, substitute placement and coaching.

Partners include the Buncombe County Partnership for Children, Inc. (project lead), Mountain Area Workforce Development Board, Smart Start of Transylvania County, Children & Family Resource Center of Henderson County, Smart Start Partnership for Children of Henderson County, Madison County Partnership for Children and Families, and Community Action Opportunities, Inc.