California Workplace Outreach Project (CWOP) Program Year (PY) 2025-27

Details

Purpose:

The objective of this iteration of CWOP is to build upon lessons learned and successes achieved in previous iterations, with a renewed focus on fostering an informed, safe, and healthy workplace culture across California. This initiative aims to not only educate but also to inspire action and change in workplace rights and safety practices, ensuring that every worker has the knowledge and tools needed to protect themselves and their colleagues. 

Description:

 Strategic Components of CWOP 5.0/6.0: Comprehensive Education on Workplace Protections: Expanding the scope included workplace protections to improve workplace safety and health conditions for workers, combat wage theft and protection from retaliation, and provide workers information on their rights to benefits and medical care for work-related illnesses and injuries.Language: Continuing the commitment to diversity, outreach materials will be accessible in multiple languages, addressing the needs of California's diverse workforce.Outreach: Utilizing interactive activities to engage workers and employers in meaningful discussions about safety practices, rights, and resources regardless of immigration status. This includes workshops, seminars, and direct outreach efforts. Collaboration: Strengthening ties with CBOs, labor, and occupational health centers, and agricultural associations to enhance the reach and impact of the program. Rural Strategic Engagement: Targeted outreach and legal resources to support access to in-person services in under-resourced, rural areas for especially vulnerable workers. Priority Topics: workplace health and safety and hazards such as heat illness, paid sick leave, wage theft, Workers’ Compensation, anti-retaliation protections, worker-related complaint, and claim filing processes and procedures, and support filing complaints for workplace non-compliance. High-risk industries: agriculture, car wash, Food processing, including meatpacking, food service, including restaurants, grocery, and retail, janitorial and hospitality, warehouse/logistics, manufacturing, garment, residential care, and others as identified by CBOs. The Rural Strategic Engagement Program for CWOP 5.0/6.0 expands its reach to rural and agricultural workers with new services with its Rural Strategic Engagement Program. This program will offer in-person clinics for people to access services in farmworker communities, including legal assistance.  ELIGIBLE COSTS -staff salaries, payments to contracted technical or administrative professionals, telephone, shipping, and postage costs, space rental and occupancy costs (maintenance, security, insurance, utilities, etc.), printing, advertising, and marketing costs, evaluation services and documentation (photo, video, audio, collection of statistical information, etc.), travel and conference expenses for staff and volunteers to attend DIR-sponsored or approved workshops, community convenings, collective impact table events, etc., production costs, materials, and supplies. INELIGIBLE COSTS-Due to the nature of this funding source (public): Expenses incurred outside of the funding period Brick and mortar or capital improvements/construction Elimination or reduction of existing debt benefits, fund-raisers, and social events Food and beverages Scholarship assistance for academic or non-academic programs political contributions lobbying activities legal fees not related to the Rural Strategic Engagement Program, religious programming, activities, or paraphernalia expenses for programs that occur in spaces that are not ADA-compliant. Insurance premiums as a separate line item.   

Eligibility Requirements

Eligible Applicants:

  • Nonprofit
  • Other Legal Entity
  • Public Agency

Must have an active and approved tax-exempt 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), or 501(c)(5) status or be classified as a public charity under the Internal Revenue Code. The IRS Form 990 must be for the 2022 or 2023 tax year and show gross revenue over $50,000. The Applicants, except Activators, must demonstrate at least twelve (12) months of experience successfully managing grant(s) or contract(s) similar to that required of the role(s).

Eligible Geographies:

 Applicants will identify the counties they will conduct outreach in, those counties will make up 11 Regions for CWOP. Some Regions will be classified as having an intended statewide reach. The grant fund should be spent in the county where the outreach will be conducted. Some Regions have specific disadvantaged target populations they are serving.

Important Dates

The date (and time, where applicable) by which all applications must be submitted to the grantmaker. Time listed as “00:00” equates to midnight.
The date on which the grantor expects to announce the recipient(s) of the grant.
Jan 2025
The length of time during which the grant money must be utilized.
Feb 2025-Feb 2027

Funding Details

The total projected dollar amount of the grant.
$44,000,000
A single grant opportunity may represent one or many awards. Some grantors may know in advance the exact number of awards to be given. Others may indicate a range. Some may wish to and wait until the application period closes before determining how many awards to offer; in this case, a value of “Dependent” will display.
70 – 100
Grant opportunities representing multiple awards may offer awards in the same amount or in varied amounts. Some may wish to wait until the application period closes before determining per-award amounts; in this case, a value of “Dependent” will display.
$200,000 – $500,000
Certain grants require that the recipient(s) provide a letter of intent.
No
Certain grants require that the recipient(s) be able to fully or partially match the grant award amount with another funding source.
No
The funding source allocated to fund the grant. It may be either State or Federal (or a combination of both), and be tied to a specific piece of legislation, a proposition, or a bond number.
  • State

Funding Source Notes:

This grant opportunity is supported by a combination of local assistance and state operational funding: FY 23/24 AB102 (Ch 38), EO-23-24 176,

FY 24/25 AB107 (Ch 22), SB108 (Ch 35), 24/25 Rural Strategic Engagement Program BCP (May Revise).

The manner in which the grant funding will be delivered to the awardee. Funding methods include reimbursements (where the recipient spends out-of-pocket and is reimbursed by the grantor) and advances (where the recipient spends received grant funds directly).
  • Advances & Reimbursement(s)

How to Apply

State agencies/departments recommend you read the full grant guidelines before applying.

Resources

For questions about this grant, contact:
Outreach and Education Project Manager, Cynthia Sandoval, 1-510-507-0203, CWOP@dir.ca.gov