Shellie Dolan
Shellie Dolan serves as Director of Grants in McAllister and Quinn’s Higher Education Practice. She provides guidance, technical advice, and professional grant writing for clients to pursue external funding opportunities, overseeing grant proposal development from initial concept to submission. Her work has included securing federal funding for community colleges serving disadvantaged and underrepresented student populations. Read more about Shellie.
FY26/27 Workforce Development Funding Opportunities for Community Colleges
Policymakers are increasingly focused on programs that deliver clear employment outcomes, align with labor market demand, and provide pathways to family-sustaining wages. Community colleges are uniquely positioned to meet these expectations through short-term credentials, stackable certificates, and strong employer partnerships. Congress has largely preserved funding for workforce-related programs and directed federal agencies to release funding opportunities more quickly and transparently. As a result, FY26 and FY27 are expected to be especially active years for workforce grants.
Community College Expertise in Workforce Training
Community and technical colleges are situated at the nexus of government, industry, and community interests, preparing future-ready students and workers for jobs that can promote social mobility while helping to fill shortages in critical fields and drive local and national economic growth.
Community colleges have historically been ideal settings to bridge skills gaps through career-focused programs in a variety of flexible formats. Often informed by industry partnerships that promote program quality and student success, they can also provide networking and rapid employment upon completion while helping to address workforce shortages in high-demand industries.
Distinct from traditional degree programs, community colleges often provide career and technical training (CTE), certificate and microcredential programs, and registered apprenticeship programs. These short-term programs have become more important than ever as technologies like artificial intelligence and robotics rapidly change required job skills across a wide range of fields, often leaving experienced workers in need of upskilling. These changes create significant opportunity, but also complexity, for community colleges seeking to expand and sustain workforce programs.
Pell Grants to Support Workforce Training for In-Demand Fields
With Pell grant eligibility expanding to job training programs in 2026, now is the time for community colleges to analyze current programs and area workforce needs, and pursue funding to develop, enhance or expand Pell-eligible job training programs. Workforce development funding is usually directed toward high-priority, high-demand fields like healthcare, advanced manufacturing, and technology to support regional economies and address worker shortages, aligning well with existing focus areas at most community colleges.
Federal Agency Funding Opportunities Available
The following opportunities are all directed toward supporting the development of future-ready workers in high-demand fields and addressing regional economic development challenges.
Department of Labor’s Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants Program ($65 million available funding, due May 20)
Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities Initiative (WORC, 2026 deadline and funding level to be determined)
Pay-for-Performance (PfP) Incentive Payments Program ($145 million available funding, due April 3) supporting apprenticeship programs.
Economic Adjustment Assistance program (EAA), providing funding for capital projects and equipment for workforce training in regional areas of need. Although overall funding for EDA was reduced for 2026, spending for the EAA program increased.
Many State and Foundation Funding Opportunities Are Available:
- New York State’s NYS’s Workforce Development Capital Grant Program and Career Readiness Entertainment Workforce (CREW) program both fund higher education programs for specific high demand fields
NYS Workforce Development Capital Grant:
Award Availability: $35 million (FY 2026)
Awards Range: $100,000 to $3,000,000
CREW Grant Program:
Award Availability: Variable
Awards Range: $25,000 to $500,000
- Pennsylvania’s Manufacturing PA Training-to-Career Grant Program supports program development and equipment purchases to train a skilled manufacturing workforce.
Award Availability: TBD
Awards Range: $25,000- 500,000
- New Jersey’s Green Workforce Training Grant Challenge supports program development, capital costs, and launch and implementation costs for workforce development in eligible fields to bolster the green economy.
Award Availability: $4,000,000
Awards Range: $500,000 to $800,000
- In late 2025, DOL awarded $86 million to 14 states for investment in skills training programs, including $5 million to the Technical College System of Georgia to support advanced manufacturing, construction, and energy programs, illustrating the strong administrative support for this type of programming.
The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation Healthcare Workforce grant aims to improve the quality of education and training programs and promote program completion for high-demand healthcare positions.
The Metallica Scholars Initiative through the All Within My Hands Foundation, in partnership with the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), supports job skill training (CTE) for community college students.
How Community Colleges can Prepare for Workforce Development Funding Opportunities
Pursing federal funding these days requires project-ready ideas and a clear strategy for alignment with priority programs on campus. Federal dollars are increasingly directed toward partnerships or consortiums that can work at scale or engage rapidly for fast results, so it is important to have a well-designed concept and developed relationships when the right opportunity arises. As accountability expectations increase and grant timelines accelerate, the risk of missed opportunities—or strained internal resources—also grows. For many institutions, the challenge is not a lack of ideas or programs, but the capacity to pursue and manage funding strategically. This is where external expertise and tools can make a meaningful difference. McAllister & Quinn works with institutions to:
How McAllister & Quinn Supports Community College Funding Opportunities
Our higher education services are designed to help community colleges save time, increase funding success, and expand internal capacity. Rather than relying on ad hoc searches, institutions gain access to structured intelligence, expert support, and scalable strategic solutions.
Through McAllister & Quinn’s Grants Intelligence Service, community colleges receive curated, real-time insights into workforce grant opportunities that align with their priorities. Our expertise and resources provide up-to-date federal, state, and private funding updates and policy changes impacting higher education. We help our clients reduce the time spent searching and vetting and spend more time focusing on preparing, writing and winning competitive grants Contact us Today for a free 30-minute consult.
Discover the McAllister & Quinn Impact
McAllister & Quinn is committed to helping community colleges, colleges and universities turn strategic intelligence into action, ensuring they are prepared to meet today’s challenges and respond with agility. Our team closely monitors funding opportunities so that institutional leaders are equipped with timely insights to inform decision-making. If you are interested in learning more about our strategic intelligence and upcoming grant opportunities in 2026, please contact us today for a complimentary consultation.