These grants will be awarded through a competitive process to support workforce training for high-growth/high-demand industries through the national system of community and technical colleges. Funds will be awarded to individual community and technical colleges, community college districts, state community college systems, and One-Stop Career Centers to support or engage in a combination of capacity building and training activities for the purpose of building the capacity of community colleges to train individuals for careers in high-growth/high-demand industries in the local and/or regional economies. This Solicitation contains an exception for rural areas and other communities that are educationally underserved due to their lack of access to community or technical colleges.

In awarding Community-Based Job Training Grants, every effort will be made to fairly distribute grants across rural and urban areas and across the different geographic regions of the United States. It is anticipated that individual awards will range from $500,000 to $2 million.

The closing date for receipt of applications under this solicitation is November 24, 2008.

A Virtual Prospective Applicant Conference will be held for this grant competition on October 24, 2008 at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. Additional information and links to registration for the Virtual Prospective Applicant Conference will be posted on at www.doleta.gov/business/Community-BasedJobTrainingGrants.cfm.

The October 10 FEDERAL REGISTER contains the solicitation. The document will also be available at www.grants.gov and www.doleta.gov/grants/find_grants.cfm.

Additional Background on Community-Based Job Training Grants