WI Entrepreneurial Training Program

For over 30 years, the Vermont Training Program (VTP) has partnered with employers of all sizes and training providers to prepare Vermont's employees for the jobs of tomorrow. VTP provides performance-based workforce grants for pre-employment training, training for new hires, and training for incumbent workers. This training can either be on-site or offered through an outside provider. VTP grants may cover up to 50% of the training cost. The program also works with eligible employers to introduce manufacturers and other regionally significant employers to Vermont students at every level. Employers who provide work-based learning programs or activities developed in partnership with a school or educational program may apply to VTP for a grant to offset the costs of providing these programs. This work supports several different types of training, but the most requested programs are for advanced manufacturing skills like Lean Technology, Computer-Aided Design, and Computer Numerical Control machining. Supervisory and management training are also popular.

The Micro Enterprise Fund strives to increase access to Micro Enterprise and self-employment opportunities for persons with disabilities who are Alaska Mental Health Trust Beneficiaries. Grant funds may be used for costs associated with starting a new business, expanding a current business or acquiring an existing business. The business must meet the definition of a micro enterprise, which is a business with total capital needs of not more than $35,000 and fewer than 5 employees.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) provides a continuing opportunity for the rapid support of early-stage applied research to explore innovative new concepts with the potential for transformational and disruptive changes in energy technology. Spurring Projects to Advance Energy Research and Knowledge Swiftly (SPARKS) awards are intended to be flexible and may take the form of analyses or exploratory research that provides the agency with useful information for the subsequent development of focused technology programs. SPARKS awards may also support proof-of-concept research to develop a unique technology concept, either in an area not currently supported by the agency or as a potential enhancement to an ongoing focused technology program. Applications must propose concepts that are not covered by open ARPA-E focused FOAs and that do not represent incremental improvements over existing technology. SPARKS awards are defined as single-phase efforts of durations of 18 months or less with a total project cost of $500,000 or less and will be issued through Grants. ARPA-E expects to make approximately $10 million per fiscal year available for new awards, subject to the availability of appropriated funds. This announcement is purposely broad in scope to encourage the submission of the most innovative ideas in energy technology to support transformative energy R&D that complements ARPA-E’s primary mechanism, which is through the solicitation of research projects in focused technology programs.ARPA-E’s focused programs target specific areas of technology that the agency has identified through extensive interaction with the appropriate external stakeholders. The focused programs have significant potential impact on one or more of the statutory goals described in Section I.A of the FOA. Awards made in response to the solicitation for focused programs support the aggressive technical targets established in that solicitation. Taken in total, ARPA-E’s focused programs cover a broad swath of energy technologies and applications.

Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education is a U.S. Department of Agriculture program designed to support farmers and ranchers in southern states. Producer Grants are designed to help farmers and ranchers test sustainable agriculture ideas. The annual application process opens in September with grant amounts up to $25,000 awarded the following February.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism solicits applications for an R01 Clinical Trial Optional mechanism focusing on alcohol health services. This NOFO will broadly focus on closing the treatment gap for individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD); within this focus, there are five major areas of emphasis: (1) increasing access to treatment for AUD, (2) making treatment for AUD more appealing, (3) examining cost structures and insurance systems, (4) conducting studies on dissemination and implementation of existing evidence-based approaches to treating AUD, and (5) reducing health disparities as a means of addressing the treatment gap in AUD for health disparity populations.