Employment Social Enterprise (ESE) Program Year 2024-25 (PY 24-25)

This initiative aims to design, develop, and implement programs that will promote job training opportunities and transitional employment through social enterprise programs for the hardest-to-serve individuals to provide economic self-sufficiency and life stability. The ESE also seeks innovative projects that demonstrate effectiveness in providing jobs, support services, and on-the-job (OJT) training while earning revenue from delivering products and services that they reinvest in people. By selling high-quality products and services and investing the money they make in their businesses and their people by providing good, paying jobs and vital support services that help their employees bust through barriers to employment. To this end, the ESE will focus on the first step to transitioning participants into the workforce by placing individuals into employment, typically in a supported employment setting, to help them earn wages while building work experience, improving job skills, and providing supportive services and wrap-around support such as housing, access to childcare, mental health services, job coaching, and much more. When employees are ready, ESEs will help them find and keep their next good job and continue building on their success. Applicants to the ESE program will serve the following special populations: disconnected young adults, justice-involved individuals, people with disabilities, long-term-unemployed individuals, older workers, and veterans. This program will build on the success of the ESE program model and the ESE Program PY 22-23 grant as the first step to employment stability and success for the target populations as a priority program intervention. The programs will also coordinate with the state efforts across multiple agencies and departments to increase access and retention of transitional employment through Social Enterprises (SE) to support recruitment, wrap-around support, case management, and job placement of the participants in the ESE program. Applicants must demonstrate the ability to leverage a minimum of 20 percent of their budget with funds or services from other sources. The leverage needed for funds is based on the total grant funding requested. Applicants are encouraged to braid funds, leverage human capital, and utilize other resources to maximize the success of the project. Leveraged resources can come from a variety of sources. Proposals must be received by 3 p.m. PT on February 28, 2025. An informational webinar will be held on January 14, 2025, at 10 am PT. Preregistration is required for all participants. Refer to the EDD’s Workforce Development Solicitation for Proposals website at https://edd.ca.gov/en/jobs_and_training/WDSFP_Workforce_Development_Solicitations_for_Proposals for the preregistration link. To complete the preregistration, an applicant must fill out the pre-registration information. After successfully preregistering, a system-generated email will provide the webinar link. The EDD encourages applicants to submit a notice of intent to apply by February 4, 2025, at noon PT to WSBSFP3@edd.ca.gov.

Eligibility

• Programs related to building
• Programs related to mental health
• Programs related to job training
• Programs related to transit
• Programs related to housing
• Programs related to veteran

Award details

Applications close on February 28, 2025.

Categories

Health · Housing · Workforce · Workforce Training