Change 1 to Training and Employment Guidance Letter 02-25, Industry-Driven Skills Training Fund Grant Program

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement is to invite proposals for funding from Tribal Colleges and Universities, Tribal Serving Institutions, Community Colleges on or near Tribal Lands, and other Trade Schools on or near Tribal Lands interested in providing innovative hands-on, in-person manufacturing training and technical assistance through rapid reskilling of employees for 8(a) and HUBZone eligible small businesses , under the U.S. Small Business Administration's Empower to Grow Program (formerly known as 7(j) Management and Technical Assistance Program).

Through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) invites applications for projects to expand, improve, or transform the utility of mammalian cancer and tumor models for translational research. With this NOFO, the NCI intends to encourage submission of projects devoted to demonstrating that mammalian models or their derivatives used for translational research are robust representations of human biology, are appropriate to test questions of clinical importance, and provide reliable information for patients' benefit. These practical goals contrast with the goals of many mechanistic, NCI-supported R01 projects that employ mammals, or develop and use mammalian cancer models, transplantation tumor models, or models derived from mammalian or human tissues or cells for hypothesis-testing, non-clinical research. Among many other possible endeavors, applicants in response to this FOA could propose demonstrations of how to overcome translational deficiencies of mammalian oncology models, define new uses of mammalian models or their genetics for unexplored translational challenges, advance standard practices for use of translational models, test approaches to validate and credential models, or challenge current practices for how models are used translationally

The Secretary of Labor, through MSHA, may award grants to State, Tribal, and Territorial Governments (including the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) to assist them in developing and enforcing State mining laws and regulations, improve State workers’ compensation and mining occupational disease laws and programs, and improve safety and health conditions in the nation’s mines through Federal-State coordination and cooperation.   MSHA encourages State training programs to prioritize health and safety training for new and small mining operations. MSHA also encourages grant recipients to address, in their training and education programs, contract employee safety and occupational health hazards, powered haulage and mobile equipment safety, mine emergency preparedness, mine rescue, electrical safety, training for new and inexperienced miners, managers and supervisors performing mining tasks, and falls from heights. Applicants are encouraged, where applicable, to support the President’s goals of increasing the discovery and mining of critical minerals, by developing or creating training and compliance assistance programs to assist operators extracting critical minerals, including coal. The President has declared a National Energy Emergency to discover and mine critical minerals. Executive Order (EO) 14156, Declaring a National Energy Emergency (2025). To increase the response, on March 20, 2025, the President also directed the appropriate federal agencies to take immediate actions to increase mineral production. EO 14241, Immediate Measures To Increase American Mineral Production (2025). In response, the mining industry may experience increases in the reopening of idled mines and developing new mines in the search for these critical minerals. With these increases, new and innovative programs to train new miners or retrain miners for extracting specific critical minerals are vital. The Department of Energy (DOE) published a list of critical materials for energy, Federal Register :: Notice of Final Determination on 2023 DOE Critical Materials List . On May 29, 2025, DOE added metallurgical coal used for steelmaking to the Critical Material list, 90 Federal Register 22711 (2025). The Department of Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, in consultation with other federal agencies published the list of critical minerals, What are Critical Minerals? | U.S. Geological Survey (usgs.gov) . Moreover, on April 8, 2025, the President amended EO 14241 and declared coal a critical mineral. EO 14261, Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending EO 14241 (2025). On January 12, 2026, the President extended the National Energy Emergency declared in EO 14156 for another year. Notice of January 12, 2026, Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Energy, 91 Federal Register 1667-68 (2026). 

The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH. The overarching goal of this R25 program is to encourage individuals who have not had substantial biomedical research experience, or who have the potential to significantly benefit from additional biomedical research experience to pursue further studies or careers in research. To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this NOFO will support educational activities with a primary focus on: (1) Research Experiences, (2) Curriculum or Methods Development and (3) Outreach. The NCI’s mission is to conduct and support research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs concerning cancer. This funding opportunity seeks to facilitate educational activities that encourage students to become knowledgeable about cancer and available to focus on cancer later in their careers. To promote broad interest in pursuing a career in biomedical research via early intervention strategies, the NCI Youth Enjoy Science (YES) Program will support efforts to create and maintain an institutional program to engage grades 6-12 and/or undergraduate students in cutting edge cancer research experiences. The proposed institutional programs may also provide research experiences for the grade 6-12 teachers and undergraduate faculty members. The goals are to inspire interest in biomedical sciences, help envision research as a career path, and strengthen practical research and career skills. In alignment with these goals, institutions may develop unique programs that capitalize on their research strengths and are responsive to their target populations.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL, the Department, or we), Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA or the Agency), is providing notice of the availability of up to $250,000 in grant funds for education and training programs to help the mining community identify, avoid, and prevent unsafe and unhealthy working conditions in and around mines. The program uses grant funds to establish and implement education and training programs, to create training materials and programs, or both. Section 14 of the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 (MINER Act) requires the Secretary of Labor (Secretary) to give priority to mine safety demonstrations and pilot projects with broad applicability. The MINER Act also mandates that the Secretary emphasize programs and materials that target miners in smaller mines, including training mine operators and miners about new MSHA standards, high-risk activities, and other identified safety hazards. Applicants may be states, territories and tribal governments (including the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Federally recognized tribes) and public or private nonprofit entities. Eligible entities may apply for funding independently or in partnership with other eligible organizations. For partnerships, a lead organization must be identified. Faith-based organizations are encouraged to apply, as are any eligible organizations, subject to any applicable constitutional, statutory, and regulatory protections and requirements. Those that meet the eligibility requirements may receive awards under this funding opportunity. DOL will not, in the selection of recipients and administration of the grant, discriminate on the basis of an organization’s religious character, affiliation, exercise, or lack thereof, or on the basis of conduct that would not be considered grounds to favor or disfavor a similarly situated secular organization. A faith-based organization that participates in this program will retain its independence from the Government and may continue to carry out its mission consistent with religious freedom and conscience protections in Federal law. MSHA may award up to five grants. An applicant may submit multiple applications, and MSHA will select the applications that are most advantageous in meeting the goals of this program. MSHA’s focus for these grants is effective emergency response and recovery training in various types of mine conditions. MSHA is interested in programs that focus on training miners on workplace safety, including training miners and employers about new MSHA standards, high-risk activities, or hazards identified by MSHA. Special attention will be given to programs that target miners at new, newly opened, and smaller mines, or create training and compliance assistance programs to assist new operators.

The U.S. Department of State's Embassy Cairo announces an open competition to identify a qualified provider organization to support the placement and administration of two English Language Fellows (ELFs) in Egypt for a 28-month program period. This program addresses a critical operational need: the successful implementation of the English Language Fellows program requires an international or local partner with expertise in human resources management, visa facilitation, financial administration, and logistical support to ensure Fellows can focus on their educational mission while receiving comprehensive administrative support throughout their assignment. The English Language Fellows program brings American English language teaching professionals to Egypt to work with local institutions, train Egyptian English teachers, develop curriculum, and strengthen English language education capacity. These Fellows serve as cultural ambassadors while providing technical expertise in modern TESOL methodologies, educational technology, and professional development. The success of this program depends on seamless administrative support that allows Fellows to maximize their impact on Egyptian educators and students. The selected provider organization will serve as the primary administrative partner responsible for: (1) recruiting, vetting, and selecting two qualified American English Language Fellows in coordination with U.S. Embassy Cairo; (2) managing all financial aspects including monthly salary disbursement, housing allowance payments, and reimbursement for approved expenses; (3) facilitating visa issuance and work permit processes in coordination with Egyptian authorities and Embassy staff; (4) providing ongoing logistical support including housing arrangements, local orientation, and problem-solving assistance; (5) ensuring compliance with U.S. government regulations, Egyptian labor laws, and program requirements; and (6) maintaining regular communication with Embassy staff and Fellows to address issues promptly and ensure program success. This program directly advances the Trump Administration's core foreign policy objectives by making America safer, stronger, and more prosperous through strategic educational partnerships. By building English language capacity in Egypt through American expertise, the program creates lasting partnerships that facilitate trade, cultural exchange, and mutual understanding—all essential components of a prosperous and secure bilateral relationship in a strategically vital region. The Fellows program represents a cost-effective model for projecting American values and expertise while building sustainable institutional capacity in partner nations. Eligible applicants include educational organizations, non-governmental organizations, human resources firms, and institutions with demonstrated experience in personnel management, visa facilitation, financial administration, and support services for international professionals. The selected organization must have the knowledge of local regulatory requirements, and capacity to provide responsive support to American professionals working in the Egyptian context. Success will be measured through: timely recruitment and placement of two qualified Fellows (both Fellows in-country and working within 60 days of program start), effective financial management (100% on-time salary and allowance payments with accurate expense reimbursement), successful visa facilitation (all required permits obtained within regulatory timeframes), responsive logistical support (housing secured, orientation provided, issues resolved within 48 hours), and overall Fellow satisfaction (90% of Fellows rating provider support as "good" or "excellent" in end-of-program evaluations). This strategic partnership will enable the English Language Fellows program to achieve maximum impact on Egypt's English language education sector while ensuring American professionals receive the administrative support necessary to succeed in their educational mission. The provider organization will serve as a critical bridge between U.S. government priorities, American Fellows' needs, and Egyptian institutional requirements.

Modification 000003: The purpose of this modification is to revise NOFO Part 1. Section I.A.1 is revised to correct the Topic Area 1b cost share to 20% and Section IV.C.2 is revised to delete the Environmental Considerations Summary and Environmental Impact Volume from the Summary of Application Requirements table. This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) will seek proposals for specific research and development (R&D) projects to improve recovery efficiency from unconventional oil and natural gas reservoirs and to advance technologies for the treatment of flowback and produced water from oil and natural gas production operations. Despite increasing energy for demand, recovery efficiency for oil and natural gas from unconventional reservoirs can average less than 10 percent. This NOFO will enable rapid field deployment of a variety of novel technologies and processes related to improving primary and enhanced recovery with the goal of significantly improving resource recovery and accelerating industry uptake. This NOFO will also support the field testing and validation of water treatment technologies of produced water from oil and natural gas production operations to avoid deep well injection and potential issues with induced seismicity and interaction with underground sources of drinking water.

Expected Outcome: Proposals submitted to this call are expected to address several of the following elements: • Scaling of wafer-level photonic processes for key materials (e.g. SiN, InP, GaAs),including process integration, yield optimisation, and manufacturability at highvolumes. • Development of packaging and test solutions that are scalable, automated, andcompatible with co-packaged optics and advanced photonic-electronic integration. • Integration of heterogeneous materials and components, such as on-chip lasers,modulators, and detectors, using advanced packaging and assembly approaches. • Design-process-equipment co-optimisation, enabling repeatable, cost-effectiveproduction of complex photonic circuits and systems, including use of PDKs andvalidated building blocks. • Demonstration of system-level functionality through application-relevant use casesin strategic sectors (e.g. AI, sensing, telecommunication, mobility, health, defence),with quantified performance metrics and clear market relevance.

UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £150 million. The funding will be to develop, deploy and operate innovative clean maritime solutions for three years in a real world environment. This funding is from the Department for Transport.

Expected Outcome: Proposals are expected to contribute to all following points: Significantly reduced EU dependency on imported battery-grade raw materials, specifically emerging technologies and carbon-based electrode materials. Established European value chains for next-generation battery materials, enhancing the EU's technological leadership and strategic autonomy. Scope: Proposals under this topic are expected to address all aspects for one of the following categories: 1. Sustainable Processing and Refining of next generation batteries-grade Material, delivering all of the following: Development and validation of innovative, environmentally friendly refining technologies for producing battery-grade metals and materials suitable for next-generation battery chemistries. This covers raw and advanced electrode materials for the components of sodium-ion batteries or beyond generation 3 [1] lithium-ion batteries Development of processes achieving significant reductions in carbon and ecological footprint, emissions of pollutants, energy usage, and chemical inputs. The selected processes should not negatively impact any of the aspects above or cause significant harm. Validation of…