Grant Funding Programs

Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity ETIP Program

The following guidelines for the ETIP Program currently apply:

Eligibility: Must be an Illinois company in a funding-eligible category
Application Deadline: Ongoing
Funding: Pays a percentage of all training costs (including books, instruction, and eligible materials) for eligible training participants
Duration: Fiscal Year 7/1-6/30

Additional guidelines for grant funding available from BIS through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for this fiscal year are:

• A Company Profile form must be submitted to DCEO for funding approval. BIS will provide this form and will submit the completed form to DCEO.
• Temporary, contractual, or non-Illinois-based employees are ineligible for grant funding.
• Minimum class size for every training session is two funding-eligible participants, excluding temporary or contractual employees. Any training session with fewer than two participants is not eligible for grant funding.
• Public workshops must have two eligible training participants in order for any company to receive grant funding.  These participants can be from different companies.
• Job classification, employment status (new or upgrade), and average hourly wage of job classification for every training participant receiving grant funding are required by DCEO. BIS will collect the required information and provide it to DCEO.
• Social Security Numbers are no longer required.  However, if receiving grant funding, the company consents to provide SSNs if requested by a DCEO auditor. 
• The grant will consider basic and/or remedial skills eligible for reimbursement only when it is a prerequisite for other vocational or technical skills training. Documentation is required from the company, on letterhead, describing the skill path to be undertaken by each employee that is furnished remedial and/or basic skills training.
• All companies receiving grant funding must participate in the BIS Customer Satisfaction Survey that will be conducted at the end of the fiscal year.
• All companies receiving grant funding must report employment status of individuals trained 90 days and 180 days after last training date.
• Only companies are eligible to participate in grant funding, not private individuals.  Invoices must be sent to the company, not to the individual training participant’s private address. Note:  If an individual participant wishes to pay for the training fees personally, BIS requires a letter on the participant’s company’s letterhead which states that the individual will be reimbursed for the fee.  This is required as the grant funding is awarded to companies, not individuals.

DCEO will not approve grant funding for any company that does not meet the above requirements. Failure to provide this information to BIS may result in the company being ineligible for reimbursement of any costs associated with the training program.  If funding is not approved for any reason, your company will be responsible for 100% of the training fees and BIS will invoice your company for any remaining amount.  Please note that BIS does not charge any additional fees to provide administrative and documentation services to obtain grant funding assistance for your company through DCEO.

Grant funding is not guaranteed.  Please contact BIS for additional information as to the status of grant funding for this fiscal year.

Grant funding guidelines and eligibility requirements subject to change without notice.

For more information on programs for Illinois businesses, see the State of Illinois Business Portal.