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The RBOG program promotes sustainable economic development in rural communities with exceptional needs through provision of training and technical assistance for business development, entrepreneurs, and economic development officials and to assist with economic development planning. Rural Development is participating in the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP), which is a new Administration-wide initiative that will accelerate the resurgence of manufacturing and help cultivate an environment for businesses to create well-paying manufacturing jobs in regions across the country. The IMCP is designed to reward communities that demonstrate best practices in attracting and expanding manufacturing by using long-term planning that integrates targeted investments in workforce training, infrastructure, research, and other key assets. The IMCP is being initiated in FY 2013 as EDA, USDA, SBA and EPA each provide funding for regional implementation strategy grants.

WorkRise, a research-to-action network for jobs, workers, and mobility, is launching a drive to rapidly develop and share actionable evidence on what works to shore up workers' economic security during the COVID-19 crisis and promote their longer-term upward mobility as they rebuild their lives. This initiative will provide up to $2 million for research on pilot or existing programs, policies, and practices to rapidly develop rigorous evidence that can inform and drive effective action toward a labor market that boosts workers' mobility; create a clearinghouse for innovative responses to the current labor market crisis taken by the private sector, civil society, and government; and elevate promising policies and practices to key decisionmakers, including philanthropic leaders; local, state, and federal policymakers; worker advocates; and business leaders. To achieve these objectives, WorkRise is issuing both a request for proposals (RFP) and a request for information (RFI) to identify and accelerate innovative solutions-including programs, policies, and practices-that both provide immediate economic relief to struggling workers and create pathways for long-term economic security and upward mobility.

The SBDC program is the SBA's largest matching grant, funding a service delivery network to provide high quality business and economic development assistance to small businesses and nascent entrepreneurs in order to promote growth, expansion, innovation, increased productivity and management improvement. The SBDCs, in partnership with SBA's Office of Small Business Development Centers (OSBDC) and SBA District Offices, develop programs and provide business management and other services that enhance the economic development goals and objectives of SBA and their other respective state and local funding partners.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is pleased to announce the availability of funds for the Refugee Microenterprise Development Project. ORR has supported microenterprise development projects since 1991 through the award of discretionary grants to a variety of public agencies, community economic development agencies, local mutual assistance associations, and voluntary agencies. The broad goals of this program are to: 1. Assist refugees in becoming economically self-sufficient by owning and managing a small business, 2. Provide seed money to refugee serving organizations to start and develop microenterprise program that will serve refugees at sustained and expanded levels, and 3. Help mainstream organizations develop the experience of serving refugee populations. In order to achieve these objectives, award recipients under this announcement will provide pre-business and post-business technical assistance as well as capital to refugee entrepreneurs.

The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL, or the Department), announces the availability of approximately $5,000,000 total costs (subject to the availability of Federal funds) for one cooperative agreement to fund a technical assistance project in an identified country to economically empower women and girls. The objective of the project is to reduce the risk of child labor, forced labor, and other violations of labor rights for vulnerable women and girls within an identified supply chain. The project will aim to achieve the following outcomes: (1) improved economic participation by women and girls vulnerable to child labor, forced labor, and/or other violations of labor rights within a supply chain; and (2) improved business practices by private sector actors to protect against child labor, forced labor, and other violations of labor rights for vulnerable women and girls working within a supply chain.

Since its inception in 1953, the SBA has served to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small businesses. While the SBA is best known for its financial support of small businesses through its many lending programs, the agency also plays a critical role in providing funding to organizations that deliver technical assistance in the form of counseling and training to small business concerns and nascent entrepreneurs in order to promote growth, expansion, innovation, increased productivity and management improvement. The mission of the WBC Program is to act as the catalyst for providing in-depth, substantive, outcome-oriented business services to women entrepreneurs, both nascent and established businesses, a representative number of which are socially and economically disadvantaged. This mission is accomplished through the award of financial assistance to private, 501(c)- certified non-profit organizations to enable them to affect substantial economic impact in their communities, measured by outcomes such as successful business start-ups and capital infusion .

The Sorenson Impact Foundation (SIF) is inviting potential grant recipients to propose solutions that can contribute to a more equitable and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic crisis. SIF is specifically targeting solutions that enable recovery through developing and growing businesses as well as the communities they're in to equitably rebuild coming out of the current social, health and economic crisis. We are seeking proposals across the following three focus ares:   Equitable Access to Wealth Creation Through Entrepreneurship: Solutions that enable and empower successful entrepreneurship for underserved or underrepresented communities such as people of color, women and entrepreneurs in rural areas. Democratized Access to Capital and Community Investment: Solutions that enable more equitable access to capital for entrepreneurs in underserved or underrepresented communities. This focus area includes empowering and expanding community investment activity. Workforce Development: Solutions to help communities develop the skills and training required for the jobs of the future in a post-pandemic world.

This BAA's primary objective is to attract outstanding researchers and scholars who will investigate topics of interest to the defense acquisition community. The program solicits innovative proposals for defense acquisition management and policy research to be conducted for approximately a 12-month period during the September 2013 through May 2015 timeframe. In this BAA, the phrase "defense acquisition management and policy research" refers to investigations in all disciplines, fields, and domains that (1) are involved in the acquisition of products and/or services for national defense, or (2) could potentially be brought to bear to improve defense acquisition. These include but are not limited to economics, finance, financial management, information systems, organization theory, operations management, human resources management, and marketing, as well as the "traditional" acquisition areas such as contracting, program/project management, logistics, and systems engineering management. The proposed research must provide through the dissemination of findings in a final Technical Report a public benefit beyond the potential to improve the efficiency, quality, innovation, and/or cost of DoD and DoN acquisition programs. Findings, for instance, should also be potentially applicable to improving private-sector competitiveness or effectiveness.

This award honors the work and contributions of Thomas K. McCraw (1940-2012), who was Isidor Straus Professor of Business History at Harvard Business School. The fellowship enables established scholars from around the world whose primary interest is the business and economic history of the United States to spend time in residence at Harvard Business School. The main activities of the Thomas K. McCraw Fellow will be to conduct research in the archives of Baker Library or in other Boston-area libraries, present his or her work at a seminar, and interact with HBS faculty. The Thomas K. McCraw Fellow will receive a stipend of $7,000 to cover travel and living expenses. Fellows are expected to be in residence for a minimum of two months. Recipients of the fellowship will receive work space, an e-mail account, a phone, a computer, an ID card, and access to the University's libraries and to the HBS Intranet for the duration of the appointment.

Indiana University's African Studies Program invites applications for a short-term residency to conduct research in IU's Libraries/African Studies Collections. Indiana University's African Studies Collection ranks among the top tier of such collections in the U.S. It comprises more than 150,000 volumes of monographs and over 700 serial subscriptions as well as materials in other formats (e.g. posters, slides, film/video, audio tapes, etc). The focus of the collection is on the humanities and social sciences, supporting a wide range of students and faculty in such departments as history, anthropology, fine arts, theatre & drama, literature, folklore, ethnomusicology, communication and culture, linguistics, religious studies, education, political science, business, economics, journalism, and applied health science. This residency is intended for faculty members at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or at other U.S. colleges / universities with limited Africa collections, to conduct research in Indiana University's libraries and special collections in support of curriculum development or publications. The successful applicant will receive an award that covers domestic travel, accommodations in Bloomington, and a modest per diem for up to two weeks of research. The award will cover expenses up to a maximum of $2,000 and must be used before August 01, 2014. The recipient is expected to reside in Bloomington during the period of her/his award.

The USAID/Ghana Democracy Rights and Governance (DRG) and Economic Growth Offices' new cross sectoral governance project seeks to accelerate governance improvements and manage conflict in support of enhanced agricultural development in Ghana's Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions. The purpose of the activity is to increase the capacity of Ghana's decentralized agricultural structures at the regional and district levels, improve accountability and performance efficiency of these decentralized agricultural structures, build community consensus, and strengthen civil society's demand for better service delivery in agriculture in partnership with the private sector.

Organizations -- private and public, established and entrepreneurial, designed and emergent, formal and informal, profit and nonprofit -- are critical to the well-being of nations and their citizens. They are of crucial importance for producing goods and services, creating value, providing jobs, and achieving social goals. The Science of Organizations (SoO) program funds basic research that yields a scientific evidence base for improving the design and emergence, development and deployment, and management and ultimate effectiveness of organizations of all kinds. SoO funds research that advances our fundamental understanding of how organizations develop, form and operate. Successful SoO research proposals use scientific methods to develop and refine theories, to empirically test theories and frameworks, and to develop new measures and methods. Funded research is aimed at yielding generalizable insights that are of value to the business practitioner, policy-maker and research communities. SoO welcomes any and all rigorous, scientific approaches that illuminate aspects of organizations as systems of coordination, management and governance. In considering whether a particular project might be a candidate for consideration by SoO, please note: Intellectual perspectives may involve (but are not limited to) organizational theory, behavior, sociology or economics, business policy and strategy, communication sciences, entrepreneurship, human resource management, information sciences, managerial and organizational cognition, operations management, public administration, social or industrial psychology, and technology and innovation management. Phenomena studied may include (but are not limited to) structures, routines, effectiveness, competitiveness, innovation, dynamics, change and evolution.Levels of analysis may include (but are not limited to) organizational, cross-organizational collaborations or relationships, and institutional and can address individuals, groups or tea

The primary objective of the RCDG program is to improve the economic condition of rural areas by assisting individuals or entities in the startup, expansion or operational improvement of rural cooperatives and other business entities. Grants are awarded competitively on an annual basis to Rural Cooperative Development Centers who in turn provide technical assistance to individuals and entities.

The Acquisition Research Program (ARP) conducts and supports research in academic disciplines that bear on public procurement policy and management. These include economics, finance, financial management, information systems, organization theory, operations management, human resources management, risk management, and marketing, as well as the traditional public procurement areas such as contracting, program/project management, logistics, test and evaluation and systems engineering management. The ARP is interested in innovative proposals that will provide unclassified and non-proprietary findings suitable for publication in open scholarly literature. Studies of government processes, systems, or policies should also expand the body of knowledge and theory of processes, systems, or policies outside the Government. Offerors bear prime responsibility for the design, management, direction and conduct of research. Researchers should exercise judgment and original thought toward attaining the goals within broad parameters of the research areas proposed and the resources provided. Offerors are encouraged to be creative in the selection of the technical and management processes and approaches and consider the greatest and broadest impact possible.

The Acquisition Research Program (ARP) conducts and supports research in academic disciplines that bear on public procurement policy and management. These include economics, finance, financial management, information systems, organization theory, operations management, human resources management, risk management, and marketing, as well as the traditional public procurement areas such as contracting, program/project management, logistics, test and evaluation and systems engineering management. The ARP is interested in innovative proposals that will provide unclassified and non-proprietary findings suitable for publication in open scholarly literature. Studies of government processes, systems, or policies should also expand the body of knowledge and theory of processes, systems, or policies outside the Government. Offerors bear prime responsibility for the design, management, direction and conduct of research. Researchers should exercise judgment and original thought toward attaining the goals within broad parameters of the research areas proposed and the resources provided. Offerors are encouraged to be creative in the selection of the technical and management processes and approaches and consider the greatest and broadest impact possible.

The National Science Foundation's Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (BCS), Division of Social and Economic Sciences (SES), National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES), and the SBE Office of Multidisciplinary Activities (SMA) award grants to doctoral students to improve the quality of dissertation research. These grants provide funds for items not normally available through the student's university. Additionally, these grants allow doctoral students to undertake significant data-gathering projects and to conduct field research in settings away from their campus that would not otherwise be possible. Proposals are judged on the basis of their scientific merit, including the theoretical importance of the research question and the appropriateness of the proposed data and methodology to be used in addressing the question. In an effort to improve the quality of dissertation research, many programs in both BCS and SES, the Research on Science and Technology Surveys and Statistics program within NCSES, and the Science of Science and Innovation Policy program in SMA accept doctoral dissertation improvement grant proposals. Requirements vary across programs, so proposers are advised to consult the relevant program's webpage for specific information and contact the program director if necessary.

The study of adult offender decision-making has typically been approached from the rational choice model. With this solicitation NIJ seeks to expand the existing research by examining the process of adult offender decision-making with respect to the decision to offend. NIJ requests proposals that either expand the rational choice model or use other theories (e.g., behavioral economics, business models, psychology, or cognitive models) or both. Proposed research also should consider issues such as social context, emotions, default choices, or possibly environmental context to help the field gain a better understanding of the overall decision-making process.

The U.S. Embassy to Cuba Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U.S. Department of State is pleased to announce that limited funding is available through the U.S. Embassy to Cuba Public Affairs Large Grants Program to support activities that promote U.S.-Cuba bilateral relations in the following three priority areas: 1) Increase entrepreneurship and economic opportunities, especially among youth and underserved communities; 2) Institutional linkages between academic or nonprofit organizations to enhance bilateral partnerships through the promotion of education, the access and use of technology, sports, and partnerships across the Americas. 3) Promote cultural exchange and enhance understanding of our shared history, traditions, and values through innovative means. Eligibility is limited to those who qualify to receive U.S. grants, and have the ability to develop and implement their proposed programs in Cuba. The U.S. Embassy in Cuba and the Department of State encourage organizations that have not previously received international program funding from the U.S. Government to apply under this announcement. Please see our website for additional information and application instructions

The U.S. Embassy to Cuba Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U.S. Department of State is pleased to announce that limited funding is available through the U.S. Embassy to Cuba Public Affairs Small Grants Program to support activities that promote U.S.-Cuba bilateral relations in the following four priority areas: Increase entrepreneurship and economic opportunities, especially among youth and underserved communities; Enhance bilateral partnerships through the promotion of education, the access and use of technology, sports, and partnerships across the Americas. Promote cultural exchange and enhance understanding of our shared history, traditions, and values through innovative means. Eligibility is limited to those who qualify to receive U.S. grants, and have the ability to develop and implement their proposed programs in Cuba. The U.S. Embassy in Cuba and the Department of State encourage organizations that have not previously received international program funding from the U.S. Government to apply under this announcement. Please see our website for additional information and application instructions.

In accordance with the terms of the Labor-Management Cooperation Act of 1978, FMCS considers applications from plant, geographic or area-wide committees. During the 2016 grant cycle, we especially encourage applications from area-wide, industry or sectoral joint labor-management committees focused on the 21st century economy and the challenges of a rapidly evolving workplace, such as: job security and skills; working conditions for an increasingly mobile workforce; consensus solutions to workplace standards; organizational effectiveness; economic development and competitiveness for entire communities; hiring and retaining the next generations of workers.