Across federal agencies this year, Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) and Federal Register notices explicitly tie dollars to apprenticeships, work-based learning, and training pipelines through dedicated set-asides or invitational priorities. The signal is clear: the Administration plans to use grants to implement its workforce development strategy to Make America Skilled Again.
To that end, the U.S. departments of Labor, Commerce, and Education released on August 12 their blueprint to revamp the federal government’s approach to workforce development. The 27-page paper — “America’s Talent Strategy: Equipping American Workers for the Golden Age” — explains the plan is geared to “empower more Americans to access good-paying jobs, build pipelines of skilled talent for critical industries, prepare the workforce system for an AI-driven economy, and position the U.S. as the dominant global economic leader.” The plan rests on five strategic pillars:
Industry-Driven Strategies. This pillar calls for refocusing the workforce system on employer demand and national economic priorities. It aligns education and training with clearly defined career pathways, scales Registered Apprenticeships and other high-quality work-based learning, and targets federal investments to employer-led upskilling initiatives that address shortages in priority industries.
Worker Mobility. This pillar aims to broaden labor-force participation and advancement by shifting from a “college-for-all” mindset to skills-first pathways. It promotes transparency about credentials valued in the labor market, integrates AI-enabled guidance and competency-based assessments so workers can advance based on demonstrated skills, and reconnects disengaged workers with training that leads to self-sufficiency and high-wage employment.
Integrated Systems. This pillar seeks to replace today’s fragmented and duplicative programs with a streamlined, coordinated system that delivers unified services. It simplifies governance so states can braid funding streams and provide a single, clear access point for employers, and it advances structural consolidation through the Make America Skilled Again proposal and the reorganization of federal statistical functions within the Department of Commerce.
Accountability. This pillar requires that federal workforce investments be explicitly linked to outcomes and program performance. It harmonizes metrics, strengthens data linkages, and mandates transparent reporting on placement and wages, while reforming or eliminating programs that fail to connect participants to high-wage jobs and reserving taxpayer-funded services for individuals legally authorized to work.
Flexibility and Innovation. This pillar recognizes the need to adapt at the pace of AI-driven economic change. It uses existing authorities to enable regulatory flexibility, embeds AI literacy and skills throughout the workforce system, and launches rapid pilot projects for reskilling and other AI-era innovations so the nation can build an adaptive, AI-ready workforce at scale.
Two recent higher education programs make this emphasis on workforce development unmistakable. Education’s 2025 Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions (NASNTI) competition listed an invitational priority to “expand access to… pre-apprenticeships, apprenticeships… career preparation, work-based learning” and to build programs that lead to “in-demand, industry recognized credentials” (Federal Register). Likewise, the Department’s 2025 Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions Program, Part A (ANNH) competition includes the same invitational priority language—explicitly encouraging workforce-based options and work-based learning models (Federal Register).
The Department of Labor is a major contributor of workforce development funding, and it announced on August 11 the availability of $30 million in grants to train American workers for jobs in high demand, emerging industries. The 2025 Industry-Driven Skills Training Fund supports “outcome-based reimbursements to employers for providing training in . . . industries” that align with recent Executive Orders, including Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future, Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance, and America’s AI Action Plan; at least $5 million in funding is carved out to support training in the shipbuilding industry (DOL). The State Apprenticeship Expansion Formula (Round 3) backs states to grow Registered Apprenticeship Programs with research- and evidence-based approaches (DOL). The Workforce Data Quality Initiative (WDQI) invests in states’ longitudinal systems so they can evaluate which training programs and services are most effective (DOL).
This workforce focus is seen across grant solicitations from other agencies, too. At the Department of Transportation, the Federal Transit Administration’s FY2025 Low- or No-Emission Buses and Bus Facilities NOFO requires that 5% of federal funds for zero-emission projects be used for workforce development (with defined eligible activities such as retraining and registered apprenticeships) (Federal Transit Administration). MARAD’s FY2025 Port Infrastructure Development Program NOFO states program goals that include “workforce development, job quality, and wealth creation” (Maritime Administration). Similarly, MARAD’s FY2025 Small Shipyard Grant NOFO explicitly funds maritime training programs to build technical skills and productivity in shipbuilding and repair (Maritime Administration).
For colleges, states, and workforce boards, workforce development is more than a theme—it’s a scoring advantage under this Administration. Proposals that braid institutional reform with employer partnerships, apprenticeships, and measurable job placement are best aligned with the 2025 federal funding landscape.
