The Alberta Immigrant Mentorship Innovation Grant supports organizations in delivering career mentorship programs that help newcomers find meaningful employment based on their work experience, education and skills.

This grant funding provides career mentorship opportunities for new Albertans to support their full economic inclusion and grow the economy.

By matching newcomer professionals with mentors, new Albertans can establish professional connections that help them find meaningful employment and strengthen Alberta’s workforce.

The Immigrant Mentorship Innovation Grant is part of Alberta’s Recovery Plan to remove barriers so newcomers can bring their entrepreneurial drive and skills to Alberta to start new businesses and help employers address labour shortages.

Apply to have your project funded under one or more of the 4 grant priorities:

1. Support employers to provide mentorship opportunities that will enhance the labour market attachment of immigrants.
2. Support the development and delivery of mentorship programming in small and rural communities that will attract and retain newcomers to support rural economic growth.
3. Develop mentorship programming to meet the needs of under-served immigrant groups.
4. Develop and deliver innovative mentorship programming to improve the economic integration of Alberta newcomers.

Eligible organizations can apply until Feb. 14. Grant funding will be provided for up to three years, from April 2022 to March 2025, to ensure organizations can provide long-term mentorship opportunities to newcomers.

Eligibility

To apply for a grant, applicant organizations and projects must meet these guidelines.

Eligible applicants

Eligible applicants include, but are not limited to:

• immigrant-serving organizations
• professional regulatory organizations and professional associations
• non-profit organizations
• industry associations
• post-secondary institutions
• community organizations
• employers

Applicants must:

• be a legal and registered entity in Alberta
• have the ability, including financial management, to implement a grant agreement
• demonstrate, or partner with an organization that demonstrates, relevant experience in related activities to those being proposed in the application

For projects with partnerships, the principal applicant must be:

• an eligible applicant as listed above
• responsible for the fiscal management of the project
• the lead role in planning the project scope, timeline and outputs
• the lead in the project coordination
• accountable for all project deliverables and reporting requirements

Eligible proposals

To be eligible, proposals must:

• be time-limited, up to a maximum of 36 months
• address at least one of the grant priorities listed above
• provide career mentorship to eligible immigrants, including naturalized Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or protected persons under the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Protection Act who are legally allowed to work in Canada

How to apply

Step 1. Read the terms and conditions

Read the sample Grant Agreement Template (PDF, 500 KB). It covers the terms and conditions of this grant program.

Step 2. Review the Application Guidelines

Before applying, review the Application Guidelines (PDF, 558 KB). It contains detailed information that you need to know before you decide to apply.

Step 3. Participate in the Applicants’ Information Call

Meeting link:

• Join the meeting on your computer or mobile app
• Or call in (audio only): 1-587-415-7406
• Phone Conference ID: 932363893#

Step 4. Download the application templates

• Application Form  (XLSX, 27 KB)
• Project Description Template  (DOCX, 48 KB)
• Implementation Plan Template  (XLSX, 22 KB)
• Outcomes and Measures Template (XLSX, 31 KB)
• Budget Template (XLSX, 27 KB)

Step 5. Complete the application

A complete application consists of all 5 documents listed in Step 4, along with documentation listed under ‘Application Requirements’ in the Application Guidelines.

Step 6. Submit the application

• Submit your completed application documents in one email to fqrplan@gov.ab.ca  by noon (MST), February 14, 2022.
• Title the subject line of your email as:
  [Organization Name]: Mentorship Innovation Grant CFP 2021-2022 Application
• If there are server restrictions that prevent you from sending large email attachments, send an email to fqrplan@gov.ab.ca indicating you will need to send multiple emails to fulfil all the submission requirements and proceed to do so.

After you apply

After you apply, the following steps occur:

1. Initial screening

We screen the applications to make sure they are complete and meet the eligibility criteria.

2. Committee review

A committee reviews and scores applications that pass the initial screening. Scoring is based on the overall application package and how it addresses the following criteria:

• need for the project
• project deliverables and design
• ability of organization(s) to deliver the project
• risk identification and management
• implementation plan
• outcome measurement plan
• budget

3. Internal review

We will consider all applications recommended by the application review committees and award grants based on:

• application scores
• provincial needs
• priorities
• available funding

We will notify all applicants in March 2022 to share the results of their applications.

Quick Facts

• Applications to the grant program will be open until noon on Feb. 14.
• The funding agreement spans three years, from April 2022 to March 2025.
• Eligible organizations include immigrant-serving organizations, professional regulatory organizations, non-profit organizations, industry and professional associations, post-secondary institutions and employer

Link to the previous post:

Read about the Project Accelerator Grant here.

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