I3 Development grants provide funding to support high-potential and relatively untested practices, strategies, or programs, whereas Validation and Scale-up grants have a higher threshold for evidence.

Although funded through the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, YouthBuild projects cover a wide range of functional areas, including education, housing, and crime prevention.

Since 2000, ESSCP grants have supported a broad range of counseling programs that tackle student achievement and self esteem to mental health and family services. This year’s program includes priorities for school engagement, environment, and safety, as well as for military-connected students.

Mechanical engineering jobs are one of the occupations for which foreign workers can obtain H-1B visas. H-1B-eligible occupations are also a focus of the H-1B Ready to Work Partnership Grants, with the intent of enabling long-term unemployed American workers to fill these positions.

ITEST grants generally involve a partnership between an institution of higher education and a secondary school, but may also include organizations actively working in technology fields that are the focus of the ITEST project.

Agencies around the country initiate technology projects in different ways and for different reasons. For some, technology is a way of keeping current and of ensuring that stakeholders have access to the latest and greatest in services. For others, a governing body may mandate a greater focus on technology, in the broad, undefined way governing bodies sometimes have. Still others are won over by a compelling case for return on investment or quality improvement. Or a technology salesperson may have let you know that the current technology has reached the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced.

May the finger-pointing and intense partisan rhetoric commence!  Shortly after finally passing a continuing resolution to fund the government through the rest of fiscal year 2013 (which ends September 30^th), both chambers of Congress went to work on a budget for 2014.   Recent history suggests that having a federal budget in place by the start of the fiscal year is a long shot.  The truth is that the federal government has not passed an actual budget bill, nevermind an on-time one, since April 2009.  Instead, we have seen a long line of continuing resolutions, or temporary stopgap measures that extend funding in an effort to avoid government shutdowns.  While these resolutions keep funds flowing, they wreak havoc on the ability of federal agencies to effectively plan their grant programming and financial obligations for the year.  That uncertainty amongst federal agencies trickles all the way down to public and non-profit organizations that rely on federal grant funds to fund their programs and initiatives.

Sequestration may have an impact on the traditional educational federal and state funding opportunities you count on annually, however generally speaking; it will likely not have an effect on corporate and private foundation funding.  In fact, many of these foundations invest their endowments in the stock market, which is performing rather well at the moment.  Now would be an excellent time to review your corporate and private foundation funding portfolio and consider mounting an intensive foundation funding campaign.