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thank you everyone for joining us for this webinar um regarding the 2021 employer innovation fund um and uh what i just want to do a quick um once we get started i'm going to go through very briefly some future ready iowa just general information whenever we're doing a future ready iowa grant i think it's important for um us to do that little basic background in case you're new to future ready iowa i know many of you probably aren't you could probably do this yourself um which is awesome but um just know that i'll do a brief view overview of future ready iowa then we'll talk about some basics with the the employer innovation fund grant opportunity that's open right now and we will do question and answer and i um uh molly is going to help us with that so that we can capture everybody's questions typically we do that at the end and we will do it at the end however when we get to a couple pieces about administrative i'm going to probably stop and pause there so put your questions in the q a part or the chat so molly can help us because um as i'll introduce in a moment um david has to leave at 12 30 so i kind of want to see if we can get some of those questions before he has to jump off um so again now before i start uh for sure just an introduction i'm kathy leggett my physician's future ready iowa policy advisor and i have allison hanrahan and say hello allison allison is our grant guru so thanks for joining us allison david steen is in charge of our legal department at iwd and so thank you for joining us david and being our resource on so many of these questions thank you kathy yep and molly who helps us set all of this up our communications um uh partners so that's who we have here and we'll just go ahead and i'm gonna share my screen and we're gonna get to it so all right i think i've got that good are we good molly yes it's good perfect okay here we go um i think i gotta figure out how come i can't move this oh there we go okay perfect okay good thanks okay so very quickly i will talk fast um just to go through these everybody just just so you know so be prepared for that um future ready iowa is iowa's goal to have 70 of iowans in the workforce having education and training beyond high school by 2025. um and this just this slide just shows that a lot of different groups got together to figure out how you know what were the strategies for us to get to this goal they worked for a long time and that's what future ready i was based on is the strategies that they put forth um for us to accomplish this goal i always like to share why future ready iowa here's one reason because it's projected that 68 of our jobs in iowa will require this type of training beyond high school by 2025. also we have a huge focus in future ready iowa on closing the skills gap that we have as you can see here middle skills jobs which are typically classified as jobs that require education and training up to an associate's degree so it could be a certificate a diploma an apprenticeship card any number of things but up to an associate's degree um 53 percent of our jobs in iowa that's what they require and when you look at this you can see um that we only have 34 percent of our population with that type of education and training so we want to close that gap we have a lot of great jobs we just want to get opportunities available to people to get the education and training needed to fill those jobs and then one other reason why future ready iowa we want to bring employers and education together um closer together because employers tell us often when we survey them that they have applicants for their jobs but the applicants do not have the qualifications that they need um and it could be those 21st century skill type of things problem solving critical thinking um communication and a a lot of times it's also those hard skills whether it's welding or healthcare skills those type of things so we want to close those gaps um so in order to do that to get to our 70 goal um we have been focused on trying to provide education and training to 139 000 at least above 139 000 iowans um to get to this goal and one of our big populations is our adults who are already in the workforce um who do not have education and training beyond high school is how can we make opportunities available to them and address some of those barriers and get them the skills that they're going to need as technology and and everything continues to change and adapt um where we are right now is at 60.2 and i think in a month we'll have an update on this number so we'll be able to see um from 2020 where we are and this shows a little bit about um where we've been and uh what percentage makes that 60.2 percent up over on the other side of the screen and we and we have and there are great opportunities in all of these different categories so we want to we want to make those available um so now on to the grant the this is the employer innovation fund 2021. um the purpose of this grant is to expand opportunities for iowans to earn credentials so for credit non-credit um industry inde industry accepted credentials those type of things leading to high demand jobs we have a focus on high demand jobs and i'll talk a little bit about that as well um and really what we're looking is to encourage employers community leaders community organizations education entities to work together and support and collaborate on um how we how these issues need to be addressed in your area the things that the training that's needed and the barriers that are faced are not necessarily the same in each area of the state so collaborative efforts is really what we're looking for with the employer innovation grant i want to spend a little time on the fact that this is a matching grant and it does get a little i'm going to do my best to to explain it it gets a little confusing um so certainly ask questions um but it is a matching grant and this grant these state funds can match private and employer dollars for the projects that that you're working on the state the the funding cannot match state and federal dollars so we're looking for private dollars and in dollars that employers put up um to to match as i said here in the the bullet point this is not a reimbursement grant it gets confused because we do do reimbursement grants um so this is not you spent this money and now we're reimbursing you and end of game it's a matching grant and that's different and so the way i try to explain it is is half of the project expense can be is covered we're looking for covered by the private dollars and half covered by the grant so for example i just want to throw out a quick um example if you say we have a project and we're going to propose that we're going to upskill 10 of our employees because they don't have education and training beyond high school and if we can get them this certification they'll be able to to stay with us in these in these high demand jobs and that's going to cost us and and this is a very this is this is a very non-specific example but that's going to cost us 20 000 so as an employer we're gonna put up ten thousand dollars that we have and we're asking the state to match that ten thousand dollars to give us so we have a total for 20 to train these 20 employees or whatever so i'm just trying to offer that as that's what the match is it's it's not a reimbursement and we'll talk a little bit more about that yeah i know we've had a couple questions recently on this point those private dollars need to exist before uh the match team part that's provided by the employer innovation fund uh so um you know you need to have those dollars available and have them committed um we can't have it after the fact the grant doesn't doesn't come in and then dollars can come in later those need to exist and uh beyond paper committed to the project before you qualify for the the matching grant from the employer innovation fund perfect thank you all right so how much money is available for this this grant cycle um right now there is 1.2 million approximately available between the employer innovation fund and some of you may be aware that we have another fund um that's open right now too and that's the child care challenge fund so it's 1.2 million between the two of those i do not have an i i don't have an amount that it's going to be you know 600 000 for employer innovation um 600 000 for child care challenge i just know that it's 1.2 million between the two of those um the deadlines are the same day so we'll be able to look at how many applicants we have and how much money people are asking for um but that is what is available approximately right now um for the employer innovation fund what is your maximum request for match it's fifty thousand dollars minimum is one thousand if you're going to do a grant we want you to be asking for at least a thousand dollars in a match the most you can ask for is up to fifty thousand um and then when and how are funds made available so um going back to kind of the point that david was making part of this grant is demonstrating it the grant proposal is demonstrating that you have these private funds available now for working on your project and the private funds have to be spent first um so i wanted to i'm gonna go to my next slide just to see if i nope okay it's later so um so for this round you have to be able to spend your private dollars that you're putting up by june 30th 2021 and the request the state funds now so so you you have to be pretty ready to go um with how you're going to spend that first half of that grant those private dollars and i'll talk more about this as we go further this is this is a shorter timeline because of coronavirus and the pandemic and all the grants that we did in the fall um this grant is not being posted until now and so that's why the shorter timeline um typically we would post it right after the beginning of the fiscal year so like in july or august and then there would be more time so so granted you know if you had a grant before or you had applied before and you thought it was longer it was um but this is the way this one's going to be done and with fingers crossed hopeful that the legislature would hopefully pass funding again then we could post another grant opportunity after the fiscal year i'm hopeful of that but of course we have no guarantee but so uh so i want to make sure that people understand that the private funds have to be spent by june 30th 2021 so you can draw down the the the state part of that grant what are eligible expenses for this employer innovation fund so that when you're asking for the grant dollars things that you can use those state grant dollars to pay for our tuition for for credit and non-credit credential attainment training programs that type of thing um so remember that's one of the things the priorities for supporting the other thing is we are supporting and we want to support addressing barriers for individuals in iowa who do who have more barriers than others to getting this type of education and training so we really want to look at um using dollars private dollars and these dollars to support child care why iowans are getting training this isn't child care why they're working it's child care so that they can attend classes or training programs um and and that isn't that's not a barrier transportation to education training books equipment fees uniforms support stipends um housing is not an approved expense so i want to make sure that that's clear but support stipends are so if if because sometimes you have participants who you're not exactly sure you know this one needs child care this one needs um food this one needs transportation so those type of support expenses can be used utilized for these grant dollars or requested um and then i i just wanted to put in the other innovative ideas and proposals um because that's it's the employer innovation fund we're looking for you know what are the barriers in your area and how are you able to help people um overcome those barriers and and definitely it was before but now it is even more with covid the um the access to internet um and virtual training and things like that that can be barriers for folks so so you definitely can think about those those things as well um grant funds cannot be used for administrative expenses um so um of operating the program or implementing the project so i have some examples here um office supplies would be considered an administrative expense marketing is considered an administrative expense i can see the argument on both sides but that's just the way it is so i just want to get it out there so you know that that's not something that the grant dollars are going to be able to pay for personal wages and benefits are administrative expenses um and and and so these type of things we can't fund with the grant dollars david do you want to add do you have other examples or do you want to add anything right there well just we we've had some requests for a comprehensive list where we can say hey these are administrative expenses these are not um it'd be difficult to give a fully exhaustive list because we can't know all scenarios but in general the program funds need to go directly not peripherally uh to the benefit of those participants in the employer innovation fund the folks that are working on the actual credential leading to a high demand job so the things that are peripheral to that the things that are probably fully necessary to make it happen but are not directly related to that programming directly what the participant is participating in those are administrative so that's the theme uh there's a few examples there uh but uh you know if you have specific examples we'll need to see those and take a look at them for you thank you um and then and then we'll pause in a minute to see if there's some questions about this molly but um i also want to put up what what can be used to meet the the match on the portion of the organization um so it's private and employer dollars like i said before state and federal funds cannot be matched with this grant in-kind funds with the employer innovation fund cannot be used to request that match it has to be dollars um and and so i put this example and david maybe you can say a little bit more what i was trying to say is um because you have somebody that you're already that already works at your office and you're and they're going to coordinate this project you can't put that in as dollars for your match um that would be more of an in-kind type of thing and because they're you're already paying them this is just as kind of david said this is new dollars to the to support the the participants and the work that needs to be done directly for them um so do you david do you want to add anything to that well i can just speak to you know the intent of the of the statute is to be able to and the intent of the employer innovation fund in general is to be able to uh uh direct new investment into uh these programs so while you know the in-kind situation uh it's definitely helpful and it's got to be going you know helping with the implementation of the programming it's not new investment and uh therefore when we're talking about directing those matching funds it's not something that we can match because it's already in existence it's already something that is being used for for one organizational purpose or another we're matching the new investment because that is the the spirit of the law that's what the future of the iowa initiative is intended to do is to bring those new opportunities or uh increase the credentials of iowans and opportunities for islands so specifically the best way to put it is new investment is what we're trying to match good perfect and then um i did want to just highlight this is you know this is in the application and the notice of funding everything but i know there's a lot of information there for folks so i just wanted to highlight this too that you do need to include um the proof that you have those funds available as an attachment to your application um and so this kind of documents how you can do that and um highlighted there as a as i just wanted to say again is applicants need to plan to expend all private funds first it's not um the way this is designed is if you requested a 20 000 match and you were awarded a twenty thousand dollar match you don't spend ten of it and then ask iwd for ten and then you spend ten of yours and ask us for ten you spend your twenty and then you get twenty from iwd to complete the project um so this so so this kind of says what we need that shows us that you have those funds ready to use for the purpose that you are um telling us in your application i'm looking at you david again any anything you want to say to this these are parts where you're so helpful sure well um well thank you but um i i think this covers it i mean you know you can either give us documentation from your bank that would show the existence of the funds and show where they are and the status or we're willing to rely on a uh you know a signed sworn statement from a cpa they're professionals they they're professionally regulated to um you know give us truthful information and so we will take an affidavit from them so long as it's signed and and so so on uh we just need proof so that we can show that there are funds that uh are in existence and ready to be used so that we know what we're matching and we're not just committing dollars uh on the assumption that there's money there that we don't have documentation up we need to be able to show the proof that there's uh funds already in existence that we're going to imagine perfect thank you awesome so um now just moving on to who are eligible applicants um and this really everything i take an estate from this the notice but i'll try and fill in you know a little bit because we do get some questions um employer employer consortiums community organizations and other entities that are in good standing with the state of iowa so i've gotten a lot of questions can schools apply schools can apply community organizations can apply they certainly have in the past and we've funded them the bold part here is what you need to pay attention to if if an employer is not the lead applicant then you need to have a partner employer and you have to demonstrate that through a letter of commitment from them as part of this application um so just to step back because it is the employer innovation fund what we're really wanting to do is engage employers across the state um and help support the efforts to get the the training and education to the to be able to have the employees that they need and in partnership is what we're really um that's the ideal probably um to cultivate partnerships because we have amazing community organizations and educational entities who are working with people all the time and we have great employers who need employees so some what we really want to see is some of these organizations coming together so the employer can work with the organizations who are working with the people they can a lot of times help us wrap around support well about administrative costs um one question that we have about administrative costs is can administrative funds be used as part of the match that's a good question but i i think david can you hear me i i i it's kind of like the the piece that that i tried to describe earlier and you can probably make this more clear that if you're if you have an employee who's helping to coordinate this you can't use that because you're already paying them to to do that so but i do have a question and we may have to get back and this is like what what if they what if the organization says we're gonna put up ten thousand dollars to market this and those are cash dollars is that something that can be used sorry i don't mean to put you on the spot david i just know this is something that comes up so if they're wanting to put up ten thousand dollars to market the programming yeah they want to know if that can be matched yeah i would say that that's not directly program uh related in other words yes it's it's helpful i'm sure it helps to move the program forward and to get participants but those dollars are not going directly toward the programming for those participants so uh that would be an administrative expense okay and so the question the answer basically is no to that question correct that's what i think yeah okay thanks others molly yes one moment um i just wanted to let everybody know we did get a question about the slides the slides will be posted tomorrow on the website once the recording is posted as well all right um so we did have a question how far back can the raised private private funds be um we have spent some of the private funds last year on our three-year project so how far back can the private funds be used that david i i would say it's it's cash you have that hasn't been spent yet we can't match dollars that you've already spent um david do you want to add to that well i'll just go back to that phrase that i believe we're all still connected when i use the phrase new investment this this is new investment so we we can't apply prior investments and accumulate those uh as something that would be a current grant application and then qualified for matching it needs to be new investment so i think when we're saying how far back can we go i would say not at all next question when will the funds from the state fund be issued um i'll answer that in the presentation yet okay so are there any more like administrative expense questions just before david has to go yeah i see one molly if it's okay i'll ask it um i think this is in regards to administrative if we hire a consultant to recruit learners organize wrap-around supports etc under contractual are we fine and anarchy are you on did is that related to administrative expenses it's it's someone that i've been in communication with so i don't know david if you think that you know hiring a consultant to recruit learners organize wrap-around supports i think they're wanting to know if that would count as administrative or if that would be okay as a direct program expense what i think i'm hearing is wages toward uh yeah the administrative uh uh set up of getting things going and getting participants and um connecting people to the opportunities which uh would definitely qualify as administrative i mean that while again necessary and probably helpful to the the programming um that would not be a direct program cost okay any others before we just move on and then we'll finish questions at the end and if you come up with others it's okay because i you know we'll check with david and anybody else that we need to to get the answers and we'll get them posted so um so you know keep keep asking the questions and um and we'll certainly get responses back even if we can't do them right uh right away so um david before you have to leave i just want to say thank you for joining us and and for helping you bet and just just to make sure that everyone's aware i mean when we're looking at administrative expenses uh you know the the dollars for uh the future at the iowa employer innovation fund are intended to go toward those goals that that the future ready iowa initiative outlines as far as credentials and getting people beyond uh you know high school education um or the equivalent and so what we just want to do is make sure we're not putting you in a position where you're submitting things that we can't match or that you're utilizing funds um you know in an administrative way that are are not going to go directly toward the programming um you can use funds but they're not going to be matched that's the issue there um you know and and so uh the key is to to look toward the programming look toward the goal of new investment and realize that yeah there any entity that is uh participating is probably going to have some expenses of their own as as far as the program they're putting together that's that's part of the deal beyond the fact that you know you're putting up funds to match there's going to be administrative expenses um and that's just part of the picture of participating in anything like this but uh that is intended to get us toward the goal of what future ai was all about so if you have specific examples always send them our way and we'll be happy to take a look great thank you um okay so i want to go back to the slide that i have up now um that uh we already talked about providing proof um so the way it would work is as soon as you have spent if you're approved as soon as you have spent your private employer employer dollars that match that you used in the grant then you send documentation to iwd that shows us that you spent that on the things that you proposed in your grant um and then we pr finance process that and sends you a check it doesn't take that long usually once we receive their receipts unless there's any problem with them to get a check process to you and then that whole amount so let's say you you're it was again twenty thousand dollars so you send us here's how we spent the twenty thousand dollars um finance process you processes the check back to you for twenty thousand dollars and then you can use that to finish the product the the project um as it says here all state matching funds must be utilized within 12 months of receipt so um so that's quite let's so as long as you spend your money by june 30th then you request it we send you a check then you have until the following june 30th those 12 months to spend the rest of the money the state match that was provided and then they'll be reporting in there where you share um what what what activities have happened and how many people have been trained and things like that um so that is that's a look at the timeline is this still coming up is my present because it says i'm paused is this okay okay i see okay so some key points again that i just wanted to go no it's not no sorry kathy i didn't want to interrupt but i think you might need to hit resume slideshow um resume share yeah or i don't slide to do it is this can you see anything there we go and i would go back to the slide you just covered i was trying to kind of see if i wanted to make sure i didn't interrupt if it was just me but hopefully everyone can see it now okay good yeah thank you for that um so yeah here are the things that i just talked about award is you must be able to draw down your state funds by june 30th and so make that clear in your application because if it looks like you're not going to be able to spend your funds then then that could uh result in in lower lower points all state matching funds must be utilized within 12 months of receipt so once you receive your your iwd match then you have 12 months to finish that work and and get that project done um so here there we go now i'll just go on to some of those key points i just wanted to touch on some i've have some i haven't but um again this is a matching grant it's not a reimbursement priorities include increasing opportunities for iowans to get education and training related to high demand jobs now in the application it will ask you um to kind of have a place for you to document why what you're proposing is related to high demand jobs you do not have the the occupation or training um it's or the occupation it's related to does not have to be on the state list that is for the last dollar scholarship or for the grant or for anything else but you do have to use your local or regional data um to tell us tell us why this is a high demand job in your area we have to have some type of of reasoning on your your end as to why this this qualifies as a high demand job but it does not have to be on one of those lists um and then again addressing barriers we're really looking to say what are those barriers what are the the barriers people are facing in your area and how can this be used to support them getting education and training accelerating opportunities i like to put that in there because that's really one of the fundamental things for future ready iowa is how can we accelerate opportunities for people so it doesn't take as long to get the education and training needed to get them into great jobs so innovative ideas around that we we really like um so please be thinking about that and then again a partnering if you're not an employer partnering with employers um and then just a few uh maybe kind of definitions here or examples um short term credentials talks about that what can be used for barriers we already kind of covered that but i just wanted to hit that again and high demand jobs application you you need to include why is this a high demand job um so now just to how do you apply this is an electronic online application you have to create your application through iowagrants.gov and so that the website is there for iowa grants and it's pretty intuitive but allison will spend some time before we're done going through that with everybody um also we have a link to that on the future ready iowa website which is listed here as well um and you can link to iowa.gov and you can also get all of the application information on that future ready iowa website so if you want to take a look at everything before you even go into iowa grants.gov you can go there and all of our appendixes are listed there on that website um and and so again i just can't say enough you need to register to get into iowa grants.gov if you have not done an application through this before this uh this utility before you have to register and that will take it you put some information it takes a little bit for you to get a log in back so please do not wait till the last minute to do this um if you think you're going to apply then get into iowa grants.gov and at least register if you don't do an application nothing lost but please don't wait till the last minute um to do this and then again online application we cannot accept applications that are just emailed to allison or to me in paper form um utilize the appendices that are provided for you and so here's like when i talked about the website that you can take a look at everything here is here's the future ready iowa um employer innovation fund website and you can see we have a we have a link to iowa grants.gov we have the notice which has everything in it appendix a has um the grant specific application guidance so it kind of takes you through every piece of the online application just so you can see what type of information you need to provide we have your frequently asked questions here the um scoring rubric i do oh this here so here's an example of what the the grant guidance will say here's what you need to provide um appendix a appendix c as i was just talking about is the scoring rubric what it will tell you is the thing you know like the things in each of those sections and how many points can be assigned to that when your application is scored so this is a really um important piece for you to use while you're going through the grant um and then and then appendix d is available there which i'm gonna go ahead and turn it over to allison now because this gives you your directions about how you get into iowa grants.gov and allison is really um our point person with this this uh this uh online application um and and a resource to everybody so allison just go ahead and take it from there yeah thank you kathy good afternoon everyone um so as kathy mentioned we do have appendix d listed as a resource to you it's going to walk you through with screenshots on how to register for iowa grants.gov if you've not registered this is just for you to create a username and login password to get into iowagrants.gov with that if you've already created an account previously and you don't remember there are forgot username forgot password options and you would just need to click on that returning user sign in here i can also be a resource if you're having any technical difficulties with iowa grants i encourage you to email or call me to let me know and and i can always try and schedule a time to walk through it with you over the phone um so that's that's something that you would want to do definitely at least 24 hours prior to the deadline of the grant being due which this one is due february 12th that's a friday so you would want to make sure that you're registered at least 24 hours beforehand so that you have time to look at the forms in the system and make sure you don't have any questions n that okay kathy i think you can go to the next slide and then um are you oh okay you got it i'm trying to move it but it's not moving there we go there we go okay i just wanted to kind of show you once you are logged into the system and have started an application these are the steps for the employer innovation fund application this list is what you would click into to complete each form they're essentially fillable forms online that you're going to complete and then as you can see you can preview your whole application prior to submitting and then you would want to submit your application so again if you have any difficulties as you go through these forms or any questions we are going to really encourage that you reach out to me for technical assistance on that and you can go to the next slide kathy um appendix d is our budget form we really want to make sure that um everyone sees this as a required attachment this will be something that you will need to upload with your application and this um this will kind of help guide too to make sure that you're putting in where your matched private dollars are going to be and then the funds that you're requesting for state dollars so hopefully just know that if you are working through that that excel spreadsheet right now i have formulas built to total up each section if you add or remove lines you might kind of be tweaking those formulas so just be prepared to double check that your totals are correct before you submit and i want to can i just add a couple things right here allison so one thing that i want to make clear about this is is it let's say um you you're putting up um for matching let's say you're putting up um ten thousand dollars for tuition costs or whatever that's going to cost for x number of participants and you're requesting a state match to pay for wrap-around services um child care or transportation that is perfectly fine what i what i think sometimes people think is that if i ask for ten thousand in tuition then i have to ask for a ten thousand match in tuition and it's not that one for one it is is dollar per dollar but it they don't have to match in those categories i hope that's not confusing but i just wanted to offer that and then one other thing i wanted to say on this is you will notice if you are familiar with um this pro this uh um grant from last time we have added a participant um a cost per participant um and and and that's just because you know we want to make sure that we are considering to return on investment for the state dollars that doesn't mean if you have a higher cost per participant that you're less likely to get funded because we want quality programming but that is new to this this um and and you'll see that in the grant application and on the budget so i just wanted to mention that okay go ahead allison okay yeah thank you and you can go to the next slide kathy so um really briefly i just kind of wanted to touch that oh and you know what i didn't do the right screenshot for this one i apologize but when you are in iowa grants there is a way to see um as we get questions coming in and as we're providing responses i am posting those to the funding opportunity page so this is what the top of the funding opportunity yeah there we go it looks like you do not have to be signed in to see the public posted question and answers so if you're still trying to wrap your head around if you want to apply and you don't want to create a username and password just yet you are able to see submitted questions and answers i'm posting those as we get responses in so if you've asked a question and i've not responded with a response or it's not been posted here we are working on a response and should have that to you here very soon so that's just something i wanted to to make everyone aware of and then if you want to go to the next slide kathy you can also ask a question in iowa grants and there are some benefits to doing it this way instead of emailing me or trying to call me the ask a question option will send an automatic email to both you and myself and then when it's posted on iowa grants an automatic response comes back to you so selfishly i'm saying this because it will help prevent it will streamline the response to you from me and just kind of ensure that that i'm tracking all of those responses accordingly um but you are still welcome if you cannot figure out how to get to this screen i wanted to just show everyone that this is while you are signed in to your application that's when you can ask questions or i'm sorry while you're signed into iowa grants so you do need to have a username and password to in order to ask a question and you need to be logged into iowa grants so if you're not at that stage and you'd prefer to email me my email and phone number are both listed with the funding opportunity and we're really encouraging everyone contact me directly first and then if if the responses are needed from kathy or david i'm coordinating that component perfect okay i think we're then ready for questions molly um and we'll do it like i said we'll do our best to answer them molly's capturing them so then we'll we'll be able to post them also there certainly may be questions we cannot answer that we'll have to go to another source um and then we would but we'll get that turned around as quickly as we possibly can so yes thank you kathy and one moment just a reminder to allison that the questions are on the document right now so first question that we had um it's a question about the maximum grant application is the maximum um based on um the employer the project or the person hired maximum i mean um maximum application is the maximum determined does it by the employer the project but whoever's doing the application you request what you whatever you can match up to fifty thousand dollars that's the most the applicant can request so that's determined by the applicant and and whoever's you know probably leading the project if it's it hopefully is a collaboration so i think that that has to um be determined by the applying partners okay great next question um it is about um the grant website where it talks about the project and award period um and it says that there is no set time period the the recipients must provide a detailed report by december 31st of each year so to be clear um june 30th 2021 is the deadline for private dollars to be spent correct correct all right but but then a year from now then is the deadline for the state match to be spent but here's how it could happen is you could you could really within that year you could spend to you could pay tuition for that but you might not have a an applicant finish for another year because the program could be 12 months or something like that so that's so i know it's not hard and fast and that's why the december 31st report is due because there are so many variations of what can happen you could you know you you could be paying for tuition for somebody for a two-year program um but so though so the first so correct as was stated june 30th 2021 for the private dollars to be spent then up to a year after that for the public like the state match to be spent but that doesn't mean your project's complete it necessarily because if you're if you just spend at the end of that period then you may have people who even over this next six months or next 12 months are still finishing a program so okay next question when will the funds from the state fund be issued um actually i apologize we covered that one already that's okay um let me see can you share some examples of what the money can be used for um such as the examples from past initiatives um sure you know what actually i think um this is on the website but i was gonna uh put this in the in as a link in the slides but i don't know how we best do this molly but can we just get a link on the up with the other things on the website that's it that are that link to our um previous awardees because it's a little bit hard i think it might be a little hard to find it's at the bottom of the webpage i think um and so let's make that really um apparent to folks um because then you can look through we have a summary of all of the the previous employer innovation fund awards um and a brief summary of their project and so that that's really something that can be helpful to you so um we had i think i can't remember if it was 65 or 67 have been funded with the first um grant so examples i can do a few brief examples um one was a a a large consortium project in dubuque where uh the education and training tuition was paid for for individuals who qualified and the funds the matching funds were used to pay for their child care why they were taking the training and then they would get placed in a job so that was to address that barrier specifically of child care um to pay for also um some folks have paid for barriers of um well transportation has been some um one of the um projects that was actually related to but as and as you've seen in the faq we cannot fund registered apprenticeship programs because there are other funding opportunities available for them but we can find barriers to people participating or getting that opportunity one organization um actually applied and was awarded and used funds to translate their education material into spanish and then to hire um and uh uh or pay for the opportunity for their employees to get trained from spanish to english because in order to get into the apprenticeship program they needed to be able to to speak the basic english that was needed for that apprenticeship program so that they addressed that barrier to their employees being able to get into the registered apprenticeship program um let's see we have i'm there are a lot of different examples um some um are purchased simulators to be able to train up skill individuals as technology trained um changes so that they could upskill and certify individuals in the advanced technology um that that was needed um so sometimes it's just equipment um so yeah we'll make that that available and um and if you can't find it or something just feel free to reach out and we can send you a link so okay thank you next question one moment so if applying as an employer must those receiving training be full-time or part-time employees or can they be contractors and or interns of the business i think they can be any and all um it it yeah it i think any of those would qualify we're just looking for opportunities for um individuals who have especially who have more barriers and i think you'll see some demographics in there um to get that education and training so i i think it could be any of those okay next question if we are a community organization and there is no staff on hand to be an instructor can we use the expense to hire an independent contractor as an instructor in a trades program for example yes all right um is it part of the of an administration um an administrative expense excuse me to help participants find a job that's a good question um if that's where we would encourage partnership you know with organizations that have services to help people um i i'd have to i i'd have to know more about that honestly so so um okay yeah that's fine um so for the next question we pay urban so this is for paid employees um so we pay our employees employees for their time when participating in continuing education those wages are not able to be counted in these dollars is that correct so just uh wages for employees cannot be covered by these grants yeah i would say correct okay and then we have an existing training program and want to expand um expand it by adding english as a second language support will the grant cover this and i think you mentioned in one of the examples yeah that would be ineligible because it's it's it's uh addressing a barrier another question can construction equipment be purchased through this grant if it's part of the program yes okay so this one talks about funds that are ready to use um as well as possible commitments on other donations that they do not have yet can they still count them as dollars available so can they count pending donations or commitments from other organizations or does it have to be confirmed i've got that one kathy um that would have to be confirmed by i believe david said earlier it needs to be there needs to be signed documentation from a cpa or um you know we've seen it i've seen it a few times signed documentation from like from a bank saying these funds are available so so we do need you to have those private funds truly in hand in this specific example they talk about email commitments for other donations coming through i do not think that would be an acceptable documentation of available funds unfortunately okay next question um a company has an inch an internship program and they are looking for an apprenticeship as well as um positions for it positions as well would this qualify so an internship program as well as apprenticeships for it positions internship experiences are part of the the um i guess items listed that can be covered with these funds um so the establishment of a red or uh internship program that type of thing could be part of it registered apprenticeships are not funded through this grant because there are other grant opportunities and so um certainly they can contact me if they want to find out and get hooked up with somebody who can help them with a registered apprenticeship and find out what funds are available to maybe get started or get reimbursed on started startups expenses for a registered apprenticeship okay and the other one uh how often is the grant offered is this typically once a year or more than once okay um this is well it it depends on a couple of things but what i will um what i can share is it depends on funding but from the legislature because these are state dollars so the legislature this is the second time they funded this grant um so typically if that if they were to fund it every year then we would offer it once a year if it's offered more than once it's because we didn't we didn't award all the funds so the first year we've only done this one year before and we had three rounds because it was new and we were trying to get the word out to people you know about it and so we did not it took us three rounds to award the whole 1.2 million um the word is kind of traveling and so if we have enough successful applications to award the full funds for that are allocated this time then that this will be the only grant opportunity for the the funding that the legislature approved last year so um so i know it's it i can't give 100 answer but my hope would be that the the current the legislation the legislative session that's happening right now that they again pass funds for the employer innovation fund i mean i think that the great thing about it is we've had so much interest we've been able to award all the dollars and we have great projects happening so hopefully that says yep this is a worthwhile expenditure of state um funds so if they approve money again then we will probably open another award which will be in july or i would say august at the latest and that timeline would be a little longer because we wouldn't be shortened because of the pandemic um but then again the only reason that we would we would have more than one in that 12 month period is if we didn't award all the dollars so hopefully that answers that a question that we've been seeing quite a bit is um when will the awardees be announced the 19th um the applications are due on the 12th and we will work very hard to get all reviews done and have an award announcement on february 19th one week later and the next one as the program grows can we reapply again next year for additional funding yes yes just if you've had an award before that doesn't mean you can't apply again and then we got another question about um wages and i think we just need clarification that wages do not count correct or do they have to count under administrative costs it's it's so it's kind of hard to answer that just because it depends on the situation a little bit i have had wages typically are not going to count let's just err on that that side um now internship wages have been used to to an applicant ho has said i want to start an internship and so i i'm willing to hire two new interns for this period of time so they get this experience and they're going to get certified in this they're going to earn this credential while they're interning and i'm paying them this for their internship that has as presented as new dollars that has been used as something that can match because as david said it's new investment this company has not done this and they want to start an internship so that type of thing has been um utilized as as um as a match before i think what i would prefer to do on um the thing is i i think i would prefer to get clarification from david on and if this is going back to the question of we pay the organization the employer who pays their their employees for um the time when they're getting educated if that's something that's already in place then i don't know that that counts as new investment and i think that's where the question is coming in um because these so so i think i i think we can address that um online and again and we can figure out whoever that question was too but i feel like i need to get a more of a clarification because um as david said we can't anticipate every situation so it's not easy to have a complete list of what is and what is not but my best thing i can say right now is that i need to check with him okay um one moment i think that is mostly all of the questions that we have that we documented and we went through as well oh um there's another question we might have missed earlier i currently have one of my employees involved in an apprenticeship program are we allowed to apply for this grant so say if it's a program that's already in progress the i think the key there is to remember that the innovation fund cannot be used to fund registered apprenticeships so if it's not a dol registered apprenticeship because sometimes there's some confusion around that that may need clarification but for department of labor approved registered apprenticeships employer innovation funds cannot be used for that unless it is to address a barrier um and again i can't i think it would depend on the proposal and the situation um for that but but it can't be used in any like general funding of wages or tools or equipment for that registered apprenticeship because other dollars are available okay and i guess i it's one o'clock so yeah i can't hear you allison you're on mew if there's any other questions that did not get a response today um be looking for those to be public wrong sorry i'm not sure why that keeps switching um publicly posted on iowagrants.gov so those questions and responses you will be able to find those again feel free to contact me if you have questions i'll make sure that those get posted as well yep exactly so um we would so continue to cut communication let us know how we can help we really appreciate um everything that you're trying to do and um just thanks so much for taking the time