Dive Brief:
- Reentry Employment in Skilled Trades, Advanced Manufacturing, Registered Apprenticeships, and Training initiative grants worth $81 million will prioritize applicants focused on job training in shipbuilding, as well as those partnering with registered apprenticeship program sponsors, the U.S. Department of Labor said in a news release.
- Other targeted industries include artificial intelligence infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, nuclear energy, transportation, domestic mineral production and information technology including AI.
- DOL said it intends to fund up to 20 Restart projects nationwide, with about $30 million allotted for national or regional intermediary organizations serving youth and young adults and up to $5.1 million for individual awards.
Dive Insight:
The Restart grants are part of the agency’s ongoing efforts to address the chronic manufacturing labor shortage in the United States.
Administered by DOL’s Employment and Training Administration, the newly announced grants will provide job training for people who have been involved with the criminal justice system. The training will include pre-apprenticeships, work-based learning, artificial intelligence and digital literacy training, credential attainment and paid work experiences.
Funds will go toward programs that “train ex-offenders for high-need American jobs and assist them in being productive contributors to the U.S. economy,” the funding announcement says. “This initiative provides those with criminal records and criminal justice-system contact placement into trainings that support in-demand industries, and it provides funding for services that evidence-based research suggests increase the likelihood of successful employment outcomes.”
The Restart program supports workforce readiness skills and job placement for ex-offenders across three groups: youths ages 15-17, young adults ages 18-24, and adults ages 25 years and older.
After the initial nationwide projects are funded, the remaining grant money will be awarded to states, territories, and tribes to support state-led projects that integrate Restart grant activities with the public workforce system under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. These grants will leverage existing workforce infrastructure and ensure effective strategies can be sustained after the grant period, DOL said.
According to the Restart grant opportunity and funding announcement, eligible applicants include state governments and state government agencies, U.S. territories and possessions, Native American tribal governments and tribally designated organizations and national and regional intermediaries.
National and regional intermediaries can be nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) tax status that have a national or regional scope. Institutions of higher education are not considered to be in this category.
Grant applications are due by April 15, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.
DOL is not the only organization looking to retrain and find jobs for formerly incarcerated individuals. The Second Chance Business Coalition also provides employers with resources to hire and provide career advancement to people with criminal records.
In addition, the Manufacturing Renaissance consults and advises manufacturers on hiring formerly incarcerated individuals, among others, due to the industry’s focus on skill building for workers in entry-level jobs and its push to recruit from a broader array of talent to mitigate workforce shortages.
