Organizations looking to expand registered apprenticeship programs face a common challenge: finding capital to develop curriculum, hire specialized staff, and coordinate partnerships. The Department of Labor's Apprenticeship Building America grants offer a solution—$95 million in competitive federal funding designed specifically for program infrastructure development.
What the Grants Fund
Unlike workforce programs that reimburse apprentice wages, Apprenticeship Building America grants target program development infrastructure. Awards typically range from $1 million to $8 million per project, funding activities like curriculum development, outreach campaigns, and partnership coordination. These investments build the foundation organizations need to launch or expand registered apprenticeships without passing costs to apprentices or employers.
In early 2025, USDOL announced nearly $200 million in new grant funding to expand registered apprenticeships, combining Apprenticeship Building America Round 2 with State Apprenticeship Expansion Formula grants. This significant increase signals continued federal commitment to apprenticeship expansion across industries.
The distinction between infrastructure funding and wage support matters. While these grants won't cover apprentice salaries, they create sustainable programs by funding the systems, curriculum, and staffing needed for long-term success. Organizations can layer other funding sources like WIOA or state grants to cover wage reimbursements once programs launch.
Who Can Apply
Apprenticeship Building America grants are accessible to organizations—not individuals. Eligible applicants include training providers, consortia, industry associations, unions, community colleges, and workforce intermediaries.
Smaller organizations don't need to apply alone. Partnering with larger entities on grant applications provides access to funding for organizations that might lack grant management capacity. For instance, a community college might join a tech industry intermediary's grant application to roll out a cybersecurity apprenticeship, securing funding to run the program while the intermediary handles grant administration.
These federal grants often require matches or coordination with other funding sources. Organizations should anticipate braiding Apprenticeship Building America funds with WIOA allocations, state grants, or employer contributions. The positive news: many of these grants explicitly encourage blending multiple funding streams, making coordination easier than it might appear.
Priority Focus Areas
Federal priorities directly influence application competitiveness. The Biden administration emphasized apprenticeship expansion in emerging fields—IT, advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity, and healthcare—and prioritized diverse talent including women, people of color, and justice-involved individuals.
Organizations that align applications with both priorities position themselves for success. A manufacturing apprenticeship sponsor adding a healthcare IT track with targeted recruitment for women and people of color addresses both federal emphases. Programs focused exclusively on traditional industries or populations may face steeper competition.
Beyond Apprenticeship Building America grants, other federal initiatives create synergy. The CHIPS and Science Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act both include workforce development grants encouraging apprenticeships in semiconductor manufacturing and construction. Organizations should monitor inter-agency grant opportunities from the Department of Energy or Transportation that fund apprenticeship programs in specific sectors.
Application Requirements and Funding Braiding
Organizations apply for Apprenticeship Building America grants through Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) when open. These competitive applications require detailed proposals demonstrating how funding will support apprenticeship expansion.
Grant recipients must deliver on specified outcomes: numbers of apprentices registered, demographic goals met, and new occupations created. These deliverables aren't suggestions—they're contractual obligations tracked throughout the 1-3 year project period. Programs must submit regular progress reports to state agencies and USDOL, documenting how funding advances apprenticeship development.
Braiding multiple funding sources is common and expected. Federal apprenticeship grants may require coordination with WIOA funds, state grants, or employer contributions. The challenge isn't accessing multiple funding streams—it's managing the administrative complexity of tracking different requirements, timelines, and reporting obligations simultaneously.
Managing Grant Compliance
Grant recipients face substantial administrative demands. Tracking deliverables across multiple funding streams, maintaining accurate demographic data, documenting partnership activities, and producing audit-ready reports requires systems beyond spreadsheets.
Organizations managing Apprenticeship Building America grants alongside WIOA funds and state grants need to track apprentice registrations, competency completions, and outcomes for multiple funders with different reporting requirements. Each funding source demands documentation of how dollars were used and what results were achieved.
Apprenticeship data management platforms like Craft streamline this compliance tracking. As a role-based apprenticeship tracking system built specifically for DOL standards and WIOA requirements, these platforms centralize program data, apprentice progress, and competency tracking in one place—reducing the hours administrators spend managing spreadsheets and allowing grant recipients to focus on program quality rather than administrative burden.
Getting Started
Organizations interested in Apprenticeship Building America grants should monitor USDOL announcements for upcoming FOA releases. Applications require preparation time, so identifying potential partners, defining target populations, and mapping existing funding sources before announcements appear improves response speed.
The competitive nature of these grants means strong applications require clear demonstration of capacity, community need, and alignment with federal priorities. Organizations with existing compliance systems and partnership infrastructure can respond to time-limited application windows more effectively than those building from scratch.
For organizations serious about accessing this $95 million in federal funding, the time to prepare is now—not when FOAs open. Download the complete Apprenticeship Funding Guide to explore how Apprenticeship Building America grants coordinate with WIOA, Perkins, state programs, and employer tax credits to build comprehensive funding strategies.
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