Consortium Applicants
Our new General Program application is live for individual applicants; however, the new consortium application is still under construction. To submit a Consortium training plan, you will temporarily use our application’s previous version. We appreciate your patience; we want to ensure full functionality, and the best user experience possible when the Consortium application goes live.
Consortium Application Information: click here
You will also find resources and support via the FAQ Knowledge Base
If you require further assistance, you can reach out to us directly at wtfp@commcorp.org
Application Form User Guide
The online grant application can be completed using a current version of any one of several popular web browsers including Edge, Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. The application form is not intended to be completed via tablet or mobile devices.
Technical Tips
Enable Pop-Up Windows: You must enable pop-up windows in your web browser for the application to function properly. You will not be able to submit the application without enabling pop-ups. Most browsers will allow you to disable a pop-up blocker on a specific website without doing so for all websites.
Back Button: Using the back button on your web browser will cause data entered, but not yet saved, to be deleted. You should not use the Back button on your web browser to navigate between sections of the application.
Closing Browser Will Delete Unsaved Changes: Closing your web browser without saving changes will result in the loss of any changes made since you last used the Save and Next or Save and Exit button or moved from one section of the application to another. See below for more information.
Single User Only: If more than one user (or computer) is logged into the same application record at one time, the form will not function correctly. This form is designed for a single user at a time per record. At any time, you can generate a pdf of an application in progress by jumping to Section 14: Review and Submit Your Application. The pdf can be saved, printed, or emailed.
Display Limitations: If you are viewing the application in a smaller than a standard window, some elements of the application will not be visible without using a horizontal scrollbar that is located in the form itself, not in the frame of your web browser. For this reason, it’s best to use a vertical display, rather than side-by-side if you are viewing the application and another window simultaneously (e.g. copying and pasting from a word document into our form in a web browser).
Getting Started
To begin, follow the General Program Consortium Training Grant Online Application - click link.
Once you have entered your company’s Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) and a valid email address, you will immediately be sent an email containing an activation link, application ID, and instructions to set a password and begin your application. Please ensure that your spam filter is set to allow emails sent from commcorp.org.
Once it is started you can save your application in progress so you can revisit the application as many times as you wish before submitting a final version. The email received when activating your application will contain your application ID and a link that you can use, along with the password you create, to log in to your application at any time in the future. Please be sure you save the link, your application ID, and your password. Without them, you cannot access your application.
Required Fields
Items designated with a red asterisk (*) are required before you can save the information you have entered in that section. These items are required before you can save the information you have entered in that section. Without these required items, you will not be able to exit the current section or jump to other sections without losing information entered since you last saved your work.
Other required items are designated with a black asterisk (*). These items are required to be completed at the time that your application is submitted. However, you can save your work without these items being completed. At any time prior to submitting your application, you can use the navigation bar on the left to make changes to any section.
Saving, Exiting, Navigating, and Printing
You can leave any page of the application by either using one of the three buttons at the bottom of each page or by jumping to another section by using the blue navigation bar on the left of the screen:
Save and Next: Will save any changes you made and take you to the next page of the application.
Save and Exit: Will save any changes you made and exit the form. You will be required to log in using your application ID and password to access the application after using Save and Exit.
Exit Without Saving Changes: Will exit the form without saving the changes you have made on that page. You will be required to log in using your application ID and password to access the application after using Exit Without Saving Changes.
Navigation Bar: By clicking on any other section of the application in the blue navigation bar on the left side of the screen, you will need to save the changes you made before moving to the section selected.
Printer-Friendly Version: After starting an application, you can review a printer-friendly PDF version of your application by clicking on Section 14: Review and Submit Your Application in the blue navigation on the left of your screen. At the top of page 14 you will find a button that will open a new window containing a PDF of the application that can be saved, emailed, or printed.
Section 1. About Your Organization: General Information
Please provide the information requested for the lead Partner. You must provide the Massachusetts address for the company.
Section 2. About Your Organization: Description
Please indicate if your company is registered in the Massachusetts Supplier Diversity Office, Directory of Certified Businesses. You will find additional information about this section here; Business Diversity
Section 3. About Your Organization: Workforce Information
Please provide the information requested.
Number of Employees:
Which employees are eligible to participate in the General Program grant? When entering the number of employees, you should include only payroll employees, not contractors or temporary workers that are employed by a staffing firm or any other entity. Please also note the following:
- Massachusetts: This should include the total number of employees at all locations throughout Massachusetts, including your parent company and all subsidiaries, if applicable.
- Worldwide: This should include the total number of employees at all locations worldwide, including your parent company and all subsidiaries, if applicable.
Workforce Race, Ethnicity, and Gender:
This section is optional but requested. There are two options for completing this section:
Option A: EEO-1 Form Data
If your company is required to complete Form EEO-1, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), you may enter the totals from the most recent reporting year from Section D – EMPLOYMENT DATA, line 10: Total in each of the corresponding fields in the grant application.
For more information about EEO-1 requirements, or definitions of race, ethnicity, and gender categories, follow this link to EEO-1 Instructions.
Many companies are required by federal law to complete Form EEO-1 (e.g. companies with over 100 employees, or federal contractors). If your company has employees outside of Massachusetts, data provided in your company’s Form EEO-1 may pertain to both Massachusetts-based employees and out-of-state employees. If you use EEO-1 data to complete this section, please indicate if out-of-state employees are included.
Please also upload a copy of your Form EEO-1 in the Attachments section at the end of this application.
Option B: Company Data (not from Form EEO-1)
In place of data from Form EEO-1, companies may provide a set of data that pertains to your Massachusetts-based workforce. To do so, you should use the same methods and definitions as those provided in Section 4. Race, Ethnic, and Sex Identification of EEO-1 Instructions (approximately 2/3 of the way down the page). You should include data for all Massachusetts-based employees at the time of application. Do not include data for employees outside of Massachusetts.
Section 4. About Your Organization: Primary Contact
Please provide the information requested. The primary contact for this grant application must be an employee of the company applying for a grant. This contact person must work in Massachusetts.
Section 5. About Your Application: Prior Grant Information
Please provide the information requested. If you require any assistance in determining the grant history of your organization, we would be happy to assist you. Please contact the Commonwealth Corporation’s Workforce Training Fund Program WTFP@CommCorp.org.
Section 6. About Your Application: Consortium Partners
This section gathers information relevant to consortium applications involving a group of employers applying collaboratively. Select “Yes”, if two or more companies are applying in partnership.
Please note for our purposes, training providers are not entered as “additional consortium partners.” In section 6 you will enter information about companies whose employees are being trained. Information about training providers being hired to deliver training will be entered in Section 9.
For consortium applications, information entered in sections 1 through 5 of the application (e.g. organization description, contact info, grant history) pertains to the lead applicant, and information entered in sections 6 through 12 (training plan, training providers, outcomes) pertains to the entire consortium. In section 6, the lead applicant will enter a set of information (e.g. company name, FEIN, contact information, etc.) for each additional partner company. To complete sections 7 through 12, the lead applicant should work with partners to compile relevant information and then enter collective data. For instance, if a consortium exists of three partner companies and each is expecting to add two additional jobs over the next two years, section 11 would indicate that six additional jobs are expected.
Whenever possible, the contributions of each partner should be described clearly in a way that allows reviewers to differentiate among partners. It is recommended that the lead applicant includes a cover letter explaining the origins/nature of the partnership, and summarizes contributions and expected impact for each partner
company.
All companies whose employees will take part in training must comply with existing eligibility criteria and program guidelines. Before a consortium application is considered for funding, each consortium partner must provide:
- A Certificate of Good Standing from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue that is less than six months old;
- A letter from a senior manager that includes a commitment to take part if the consortium grant;
- A letter of support, on union letterhead, is required from an officer of each participating union whose members will be involved in training, if applicable to any consortium partners;
- The date (month and year) of the company’s most recent previous Workforce Training Fund grant (if any), a description of the training provided in the prior grant, and an explanation of how the training proposed differs from the topic of the previous grant.
Before submitting an application, these items should be gathered by the lead applicant and uploaded using Section 13: Additional Information: Attachments.
Section 7. Training Plan: Plan Development
Training Plan Summary: In 1,000 characters or less, please provide a brief, summary-level description of your training plan. This concise summary will be used as a short-form depiction of the proposed training activity for public release. You should not include financial, proprietary or other sensitive information
Objective: What issue(s), such as business problems or opportunities, do you intend to address with this training? Please be specific and provide context to help reviewers understand your business objectives
Section 8. Training Plan: Training Participants
Please provide the information requested.
Cost of Benefits: “Expressed as a percent of wages, please approximate the cost of benefits. For the purposes of the program, this should include fringe benefits, health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, workers’ compensation, and payroll taxes. It should not include overhead costs.”
Unduplicated Trainees and Average Wage: The information entered in this section will be used in later sections of the application to calculate key elements of the grant budget. Applicants must be able to substantiate the figures used upon request before, during, or after a grant period.
If there are no trainees in a category group, please enter 0 in that category field.
# Below $22.06 / Hour: Please indicate the number of trainees, by category group, earning less than $22.06 per hour. Workers earning less than $22.06 per hour are considered low-wage workers.
Average Trainee Wage Expense: The average wage expense, including benefits, will be calculated automatically based on the information entered in the category fields.
Union Trainees: A letter of support, on union letterhead, is required from an officer of each union whose members will be involved in training. Letters of support should be submitted via upload in Section 13: Additional Information: Attachments. This application cannot be considered for funding until such letters are received. If you have members of more than two unions participating in this training, please provide the information requested above for each additional union in your cover letter.
Helpful Resource: General Program Funding Questions
Section 9. Training Providers
Please provide the information requested. In a subsequent section of the application, when entering training courses, you will be required to choose the training provider from a drop-down list that is based on the information entered here.
Helpful Resource: Grantee Training Provider Eligibility Support
If the training provider is registered in the Massachusetts Supplier Diversity Office, Directory of Certified Businesses please indicate whether the training provider is a for-profit or non-profit organization and indicate which type(s) of certification applies to the provider.
If you are planning to use more than one training provider, you can expand this page by using the Add Another Provider button:
Section 10: Budget and Training Plan Outline
In section 10 you will outline the proposed training plan. Please review the resources below to understand the use of these terms and how to organize your training plan.
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