Reducing Barriers to Training for Quality Jobs in the Philadelphia Region
If an application has already been started in response to this RFP, please visit the Proposals in Progress section in the Grants Portal to view and/or continue the application process.
The William Penn Foundation (WPF) is excited to partner with five other foundations to advance this objective. Along with WPF, Comcast has provided lead support for this work. Additional significant support has been provided by the Connelly Foundation, FS Investments, M&T Bank, and the Philadelphia Foundation. By collaborating on this RFP, these funders have increased the total amount of funding available to support workforce development in our region and have simplified the application and reporting processes for prospective grantees.
Background
Workforce development practitioners point to a range of barriers that often prevent individuals from accessing and completing training programs that could lead to higher-paying jobs and economic mobility. These barriers can include access to childcare and transportation, the inability to forgo income during training, language barriers, and past involvement with the justice system. These barriers can also impact employment retention. Experts suggest that an effective approach to addressing these barriers is for workforce programs to combine paid career training with “wrap-around” supportive services, which are non-training supports such as childcare, transportation, or counselling/coaching that can help job seekers overcome their challenges in completing job training and finding and maintaining family sustaining employment.
Opportunity Overview
The Foundation and our co-funder partners seek to support efforts that expand the effectiveness of high-quality workforce training by reducing the barriers to accessing and completing workforce programs, transitioning to employment, and successfully completing the first year of employment. Through this funding opportunity, we seek to support initiatives and programs that will result in career entry and advancement for populations facing significant barriers (e.g., historically disadvantaged populations, young people aged 16-24 who are not in school and not working; individuals with justice system involvement; and immigrants) to achieving economic mobility for themselves and their families. Initiatives serving in-school youth are also eligible to apply for funding, but these programs must directly lead to youth obtaining full-time employment after obtaining a high school diploma.
This funding opportunity will not support organizations that are new to workforce training. Funding awarded through this opportunity will be directed to organizations with a track record of success in workforce development. Whether organizations directly train and place jobseekers or work on systems change efforts, competitive proposals will be able to quantify the projected increase in the number of individuals facing high barriers who will complete training, transition to, and retain quality employment as a result of grant funding.
Given recent research funded by Pew Charitable Trusts and conducted by the Brookings Institution, this funding opportunity seeks to prioritize existing training programs that prepare people for employment in three growing sectors of our regional economy: materials machining, enterprise digital solutions, and biomedical/life sciences. In combination, these three sectors are expected to add over 85,000 high-quality jobs in our region over the next decade. Funders of this RFP want to ensure that residents of our region are prepared to secure those jobs.
As noted above, requests for funding may seek support for direct services and supports to remove barriers or may seek to advance systems and policy changes that will help to remove barriers to successful training and employment.
We are requesting proposals for projects up to three years to reduce workforce training barriers in the Philadelphia region. After reviewing proposals, WPF will conduct site visits and gather additional information from a limited number of organizations.
Organizations that propose projects in partnership with other applicants will be considered on their individual merits. However, the Foundation recognizes that making significant progress on the objective is difficult and encourages organizations to include partnerships that leverage complementary strengths, resources, and expertise, particularly partnerships with employers and social service providers.
The Foundation and its partners recognize that there are many different tactics or approaches that could be used to advance the objective stated above. All proposals that meet the review criteria described below are encouraged.
WPF and its funding partners anticipate awarding a total of $8.35 million to advance this objective. Five million dollars of the total amount awarded under this RFP will be reserved for grants to organizations operating in the City of Philadelphia and serving Philadelphia residents. The remaining $3.35 million will be awarded for programs in any area of the five-county region of Southeastern Pennsylvania (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia counties).
While there is no minimum or maximum amount of funding that organizations may request, the grant amount requested should be commensurate with the contribution that the project will make to the overall objective. For direct service proposals, we will take into account the number of people likely to complete training and the barriers that will be successfully addressed with participants as key factors for final amounts awarded.
Full Request for Proposals (RFP) and Application
Download the full RFP packet for more information about this opportunity including eligibility, review criteria, learning and insights, budget, and link to an application template.
All applications must be submitted through the Grants Portal.
Webinar
Interested organizations are invited to participate in an optional informational webinar on Thursday, June 26, 2025 at 11:00 AM ET. Following the live webinar, a recording will be posted to this page.