Round 2 has closed, and Round 3 is now open with applications due on February 13th, 2025. View the Request for Proposal and the Building a Movement Application for more information, and click here to find out more about our Round 1 partners!

Overview 

The vision of Career Academies at Greater Twin Cities United Way is to unite public education and employment systems so that all students in Minnesota have access to wealth building and purpose driven careers. We do this through convening a community of practice, providing technical assistance, and investing in promising strategies and solutions.

The Building a Movement fund will support promising strategies seeking to build the cross-sector connections, frameworks and relationships needed to scale career pathways across the state and create high-quality opportunities for students in Minnesota. Organizations (501c3 or 501c6), school districts, charter schools, or post-secondary partners may apply on their own or as part of a partnership for funding and technical assistance support. All projects should be aligned to the core components of Career Academies and focus on strengthening career pathways that include access to college credit in a high school sequence, rigorous and relevant coursework and related work experience. Grant sizes will range from $5,000-$10,000.

Projects can be focused in one or more of the following areas or areas not listed here that are key to your region building sustainable career pathways:

• Dual enrollment 
• Integrating youth voice and equity in program design 
• Employer engagement 
• K-12 administration related to career pathways 
• General career pathways development 

Technical Assistance 

In addition to funding, grantees will have access to a team of career pathways technical assistance providers with expertise in the core components of career pathways like dual enrollment, integrating youth voice in program design, employer engagement, K-12 administration and more. Technical assistance providers will work closely with grantees to identify targeted areas of growth and provide content expertise, accountability and perspective. The length of engagement, number of hours and the scope of the project provided by technical assistance providers will be determined by Career Academies staff in consultation with grantees.

IMPORTANT: Greater Twin Cities United Way has recently changed its funding portal to the software system Andar. To access this funding opportunity (and subsequent GTCUW funding opportunities), you will first need to register for a GTCUW Grants Portal account, which you can do by following this link to the portal registration form. Once you have submitted this registration form, you will receive an email within three business days directing you to log in to your Grants Portal account, where you will complete the full Building a Movement application.

 If you have already submitted this form and completed your account registration, you can login to your account here to access the full application. If you have a Grants Portal account you created for a previous RFP, you can login to your account here, and go to the Sign Up for Open RFPs tab to request access to the Building a Movement application in your online portal. Please refer to this one-pager for further details on how to register for your Grants Portal account, and reach out to rfp@gtcuw.org with any questions.

Key Dates for Applicants 

For more information, contact: rfp@gtcuw.org 

Funding Eligibility 

Organizations must meet the eligibility requirements to be funded. Please see the full RFP for additional priority criteria to strengthen your application. 

• Your organization is a 501c3 or 501c6, has a fiscal sponsor who has a 501c3 or 501c6 or is a public school district or charter school. 
• Project seeks to improve outcomes for one or more of the following student populations: 
  • Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander and/or a Youth of Color 
  • Family income level is at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level  
  • Live with a disability that presents significant barriers to employment
• Primary focus of the project is on students currently enrolled in high school or between the ages 14-22 
• Your project includes a public school district or charter school partner with existing career pathways or has demonstrated momentum/interest to develop career pathways 
• Your organization meets United Way’s financial standards and received an unqualified opinion on your most recent audit report. This will be determined by an assessment of your financial documents as part of the application review. 
• Organization or the fiscal sponsor has an annual budget of at least $250,000. 

Organizations funded in Round 1 of Building a Movement are able to apply in Round 2 and/or 3 if they apply with new partners and a new project focus. Current grantees will not be eligible to receive funding in more than one round if applying with the same partnership and/or the same project focus.

New applicants will be prioritized in subsequent rounds of funding to ensure an equitable approach to funding across our priority populations and to ensure geographic diversity. For any additional questions around reapplying please reach out to Der Yang, Der.Yang@gtucw.org.

For any special considerations related to these criteria, or any other questions related to the application process, please contact us at RFP@gtcuw.org.

¹Career pathways are defined as a sequence of educational and work experiences aligned with high-wage, high-demand career fields that include access to college credit, rigorous and relevant coursework, and related work experiences.

Funding Priorities

These criteria are not required but your application will be scored based on how well they meet these criteria. Applications that score highest will be most competitive for funding.

• Project focus is on increasing access and improving outcomes for Career Academies’ priority populations as listed in the eligibility requirements for this RFP.
• Project plans to work toward high-quality career pathways which are defined as:
  • A sequence of educational and work experiences aligned with high-wage, high-demand career fields that include access to college credit, rigorous and relevant coursework, and related work experiences.
  • Are aligned to high wage, high demand career pathways within your local area.
  • Represent student voice in their design and meet a demonstrated community need or aspiration.
  • Are working to meet outcomes through local cross-sector partnerships.
• You have a clear sense of the project you are hoping to complete and what your partnership needs to be successful.
  • Your application demonstrates how funds and technical assistance will result in a long-term, sustainable approach to high-quality career pathways.

Rubric Breakdown

To make applications easier for applicants, we have provided a Word template of the application: Building a Movement Application. Applicants MUST submit their application in their online grants portal to be considered for funding.

For any special considerations related to these criteria, or any other questions related to the application process, please contact us at RFP@gtcuw.org.