1. General

1. If we are planning to serve a particular region that includes a targeted county, can you include multiple counties, particularly if one of the counties is a targeted county?
   
   

   Yes, you can serve multiple counties as long as they are in the same Economic Development Area. If you are serving counties located in more than one Economic Development area, you will need to submit an application for each of the Economic Development Areas.
   

   
   

2. Our Community College administers an Early Childhood (ECE) Apprenticeship Program. Does the grant exclude Early Childhood DOL recognized apprenticeship programs or is it exclusive to construction and building apprenticeships?
   
   

   The Illinois Works Pre-Apprenticeship Program exclusively funds pre-apprenticeship programs in construction and the trades. It does not fund Apprenticeship Programs, and it does not fund programs in early childhood education.
   

   
   

3. We have created Workforce Words, trade-specific vocabulary software. Within a single app, we already support vocabulary development in thirty-five trades, with plans for another twenty-five.
   
   

   For each trade, the app includes 450 words and between 300-400 vocabulary activities to help trainees master those words. I have attached a one-page description of the software and a one-page listing of the sixty trades we currently plan to support and the thirty-five already completed.

   Can we apply for a grant? We do not provide direct services ourselves. Rather, we would be looking for a grant to provide all the other grantees the ability to furnish all the people they train with Workforce Words. The cost is only $50 per trainee for lifetime access to all the trades we support (now and in the future).

   
   

   Thank you for reaching out to the Office of Illinois Works at DCEO. In order to apply for one of our grants, you must fulfill the requirements stipulated in our NOFO (see the NOFO and other documents in our landing page: 
   

   https://www.illinoisworknet.com/ilworkspreapprenticeshipnofo2025). Unfortunately, given your description, it does not seem like you would be able to apply for one of our grants.
   

   
   

   
   
4. We have two questions regarding this grant opportunity. 1) Can we submit a proposal that focuses on planning and capacity building for the initial grant period with the expectation of running the program with students in the following year?
   
   
   2)  Will there be another round of funding this year or next?  The timeframe to craft a quality proposal that is ready for implementation in January is somewhat challenging, so we are exploring ways to give ourselves enough time to put everything in place. 
   

   
   

   ​​Thank you for reaching out to the Office of Illinois Works at DCEO. Unfortunately, you cannot submit a grant proposal for planning and capacity building as only programming proposal are allowed per the NOFO (see NOFO materials at: https://www.illinoisworknet.com/ilworkspreapprenticeshipnofo2025). You can submit, however, a proposal to run only one cohort that would start later in the program year, as long at instruction would by the end of October of 2026. That would give you enough time to plan and build your program before you start it. Also, we do anticipate having another round of funding available in the summer of 2026 for programs to run starting January 1, 2027.
   

   
   

   
   
5. Would an automotive training program (focused on maintenance and repair) qualify for the pre-apprenticeship program?
   
   
   Thank you for reaching out to the Office of Illinois Works. Unfortunately, you cannot apply to receive a grant under our NOFO for an automotive training program as our funding can only be used for pre-apprenticeship programs in construction and the trades.​