CivicLab maintains a principle of remaining model-agnostic.  We understand that partnerships must serve their communities and/or regions and, as such, may have stakeholders, structures, policies, and practices that are unique to them.  We embrace complexity, uniqueness, and wholeness and seek to be inclusive in eligibility.  However, to fully benefit from this initiative, a partnership must:

• Be a partnership that brings together key leaders and stakeholders from the public, private, and social sectors to improve postsecondary outcomes and local economies.  These tend to be partnerships that have taken responsibility for the community and/or regional well-being, have strong convening power, and can set and pursue goals and strategies that involve multiple organizations and sectors.  They also tend to focus on many industry sectors, education and training programs, and/or social supports to address barriers that prevent specific populations from achieving social mobility.

  • • Note: Single organizations applying to complete work within their own organization and transactional partnerships between single sector organizations are generally ineligible.

• Include at least one higher education institution or workforce training provider.  These may include community colleges, technical colleges, universities, and training providers that issue non-degree industry credentials.  There is no limit to how many higher education and/or workforce providers may be included in the partnership. 

  • • A note about K-12:  K-12 schools and districts may be part of the partnership, but they cannot replace the presence of a higher education and/or workforce provider.  Further, the workplan must speak to improving higher education and/or workforce outcomes beyond improving access and, as such, must involve colleges, universities, and/or workforce providers in the collaborative workplan. 

• Include at least one major employer or industry group.   Employers will be heavily engaged in the initiative to support the creation of new pathways to employment and planning for future economies.  Employers will be included in each institute and should be part of the applicant's guiding team.
  
  

• Have a lead applicant with a 501(c)3 tax status.

• Be a partnership located within and serving a rural community and/or region located in the United States.  There are no restrictions on the geographic or population size of the place – it can be a single town or a multi-county region spanning multiple states.   Whatever the community or region, the partnership must have the ability to impact the postsecondary, employment, and economic development system.

• Have key stakeholders in the partnership ready to engage in systems-building work, improving the ways they work together to address complex social challenges.

• Work on collaborative strategies at the system- and program-level that benefit low-income adults in rural communities and/or regions. 

Additional eligibiilty requirements may be included in the RFP.  Please review the RFP for the complete set of requirements.

Selected partnerships will receive:

• Up to $37,000 in travel and convening funds. These funds are intended to offset travel costs for attending each institute, gather guiding and working teams in the community/region, support the coordination of system-level work by the lead organization, and/or serve as incubating dollars for rapid prototyping of strategies.

• Six in-person labs.  Each year, the cohort will gather twice, in-person, for comprehensive Labs designed to build the capacity of partnerships.  These Labs are uniquely designed to this program and will require a team of no fewer than six people representing the community partnership.  

• Bi-monthly virtual community of practice.  All selected partnerships will participate in group virtual learning and support sessions, focused on sharing ideas and challenges and providing cohort-wide assistance in key areas.  Each session takes place every other month.

• One-on-one support to develop and execute a collaborative workplan.  CivicLab will provide one-to-one support, with no limits, to support the development and implementation of the collaborative workplan.

• Robust data sets. Each partnership will receive spatial diversity data books and labor market data to inform system-building efforts.

• Technical assistance in higher education innovation and employer practices.  All partnerships will receive support from national experts in rural higher education innovation and innovative employer practices.  

• Engagement in communication and elevation efforts.  Throughout the initiative, CivicLab will provide opportunities to elevate each partnership using several communication methods, bringing greater attention to the people, places, organizations, and solutions within each partnership.

CivicLab prioritizes long-term partnerships with fellow practitioners that extend beyond funded initiatives.  As such, in addition to the items listed above, each partnership may choose to join the National Talent Network and/or pursue the Talent Hub Designation.