EmployED 2025
Request for Proposals
The EmployED Initiative is managed by American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) with funding from General Motors Corporate Giving. This initiative will fund projects at AACC member colleges to support efforts to align community college talent with emerging and current advanced manufacturing industry needs. Download the RFP instructions as a PDF.
AACC will facilitate a peer network 18 colleges made up of three 6-college learning cohorts in which colleges are expanding their existing efforts in one of the following areas:
- Cohort 1: Early Career and Technical Skills Exposure
- This group will focus on STEM-related career and student technical organizations located at community colleges for students in K-12 grades. Lessons learned will be documented and will include models for early career exposure and preparation aimed at deepening talent to industry pipelines.
- Cohort 2: Advanced Manufacturing CTE Programs
- This group will focus on advanced manufacturing and associated career and technical programs at community colleges. Lessons learned will be documented and will include models in maintaining relevancy as advanced manufacturing technology evolves.
- Group 3: Electric Vehicle Programs
- This group will focus on community colleges currently engaged in electric vehicle programs including infrastructure, EV technician, and automotive maintenance and repair. Lessons learned will be documented and will include efficient and relevant automotive training with electric and/or hybrid efforts.
The purpose of assembling and leading these learning cohorts is to identify and elevate promising practices that deepen industry-relevant talent in advanced manufacturing. All lessons learned will be made available to the wider AACC network of member institutions. Colleges that are selected to participate will receive $60,000 for one year of work together with AACC. Those funds are intended to allow the college to participate in the learning cohort as well as expand upon existing efforts. Funds may be used for but are not limited to the following examples: college personnel time, purchase of learning materials, scholarships or tuition offsets, program piloting.
Colleges may choose to apply to participate in more than one learning cohort but must provide separate applications. Selected colleges with multiple applications will only participate in one learning cohort.
All 18 selected colleges will be required to participate in a collective peer network as well as their smaller individual subgroup conversations focused on topics that are important to the efficiencies of the future upskilling of emerging and advanced manufacturing talent.
The technical assistance provided by AACC will involve subject-matter experts where necessary.
Working in partnership with General Motors, AACC will document promising practices and innovative programs and solutions for scaling to the wider network of AACC’s membership and other interested parties as appropriate.
Request for Proposal Instructions
| Eligible Institutions | Applicants must be current AACC member community colleges.
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| Submission Deadline and Format | Applications should be submitted electronically via formsite no later than Friday, June 6, 2025 at noon ET. The RFP has closed.
Applicants must submit their responses to the RFP in a 100 point-valued application. Page number details follow. |
| Required Response elements
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| Review Criteria and benefits | AACC and General Motors will review all applications and score them on the 100-point scale. The final colleges will be selected based on scores in the outlined categories, geography and in conjunction with the funder’s approval. All colleges will receive notification (selected and non-selected) in June.
Selected sites will receive:
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| Questions? | Please contact Jen Worth at jworth@aacc.nche.edu |
Section 1. President or CEO Cover Letter (10 points)
Applicant must provide a cover letter stating the president or CEO’s support for the college’s participation in the community of practice with a statement of the leader’s commitment to engage with this national initiative. Please note that the college president or CEO will be the individual informed if the application is selected.
Please provide the following:
- Assurance that the college agrees to accept AACC’s and funder’s media and publicity policies and abide by the media embargo and may not publish, post, broadcast or distribute embargoed news releases or details of the award prior to the end of the embargo
- A commitment to be engaged with this initiative together with AACC and General Motors
- A commitment to share promising and best practices with the community of practice for imitation or replication at other colleges
- A commitment to participate in the national AACC 2026 Workforce Development Institute showcasing promising practices and program successes for the wider AACC membership together with AACC and General Motors.
Approximately one page for this section is sufficient.
Section 2. Statement of Sector Specific Need and Capacity (20 points)
Please provide the following:
- Indicate which of the three learning cohorts for which you wish to be considered
- Cohort 1: Early Career and Technical Skills Exposure
- Cohort 2: Advanced Manufacturing Programs
- Cohort 3: Electric Vehicle Programs
- Local community and labor market needs: Summarize the geographic region to be served and describe the current labor market your college is operating within.
- Sector specific needs: Using local labor market data, describe what sector-specific needs your program or proposed project align to.
- Industry engagement: Summarize your existing industry partners. If industry partnerships are not in place, describe your institution’s historic capacity to build partnerships and identify target industry partners. (Note: Colleges that do not have a connection to a General Motors manufacturing or repair facility are still eligible for this learning cohort.)
- Internal capacity: Provide a brief bio of key program staff who will manage this work for your organization and their expertise as well as what percentage of their time will be focused on it. Each school must have a minimum of one Vice President, Dean, or Directors of Workforce and/or Economic Development (or similarly titled individual) as well as one additional leadership team participant.
Approximately one page for this section is sufficient.
Section 3. Target Population and Fund Intention (20 points)
Please provide the following:
- General population at your institution (average size annually, credit and non-credit students, and general demographic breakdowns).
- Describe your institution’s historic efforts related to your chosen learning cohort and the way your project will expand, bolster or improve programming for, or increase enrollment of students.
Approximately one page for this section is sufficient.
Section 4. Detailed Strategy/Scope of Work (30 Points)
Please provide the following:
Describe how you will utilize funds a project or program expansion that will support or bolster existing efforts at your college aligned with the appropriate learning cohort you wish to participate in. Funds may be used for but are not limited to the following examples: college personnel time, purchase of learning materials, scholarships or tuition offsets, or program piloting.
Include:
- 2-3 project milestones and successes during the first six months and at the end of the one (1) year grant
- Define how many students will be impacted by your program or project during the grant period in a direct fashion.
- Outline your intentions to continue to build upon this work post-grant.
Approximately one page for this section is sufficient.
Section 5. Evaluation (10 points)
Describe how your college will collect, track, and report to AACC program outcome data including:
- Total number of students benefiting from funded activities
- Provide two (2) student success stories
- Any additional project goals outlined in your proposal
Section 6. Project Budget and Narrative (10 Points)
Applicants must provide a budget and budget narrative for $60,000 for 1 year of work starting 7/1/2025-6/30/2026.
Please plan for:
- Required personnel – colleges should plan to have presence on monthly learning cohort calls and full peer network webinars.
- AACC 2026 Workforce Development Institute
- Edit categories as needed
| Category | Cost | Narrative detail |
| Personnel | ||
| Fringe | ||
| Travel | ||
| Supplies | ||
| Equipment | ||
| Student Support | ||
| Total |