The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $25.5 million available in new grant funding to help small, rural, and Tribal communities address wastewater infrastructure challenges and meet federal water standards. The funding will support technical assistance providers offering services such as engineering expertise, workforce training, and financial management. The initiative is part of the EPA's Real Water Technical Assistance (RealWaterTA) program, which will help communities tackle issues like aging infrastructure, workforce shortages, and rising operational costs while ensuring compliance with the Clean Water Act. Applications for the grants are open through August 14, 2026.

The goals of RealWaterTA focus on human health and compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean Water Act. It also prioritizes accountability for technical assistance providers and real-world results. This initiative is benefiting Americans nationwide, especially in Tribal communities and rural areas where small systems face unique financial and operational challenges, including aging infrastructure, workforce shortages, increasing costs, and declining rate bases. EPA’s grant funding will be used to assess communities’ most pressing challenges, including supporting water quality compliance issues; providing training on water infrastructure and management best practices; helping communities navigate the federal funding application process, and investing in reliable infrastructure solutions.

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) is calling on employers, training providers, and regional partners to apply for its new AI Upskill Accelerator Pilot Program to strengthen workforce readiness in an AI-driven economy. The initiative encourages applicants to develop collaborative, employer-led training programs that teach practical, in-demand AI skills tailored to real-world industry needs. The accelerator expects to select five to eight projects, and applicants will be evaluated on outcomes such as job placement, retention, and wage growth. EDA leaders say the effort will help ensure American workers remain competitive while supporting broader national goals for AI innovation and economic growth.

The AI Upskill Accelerator Pilot Program will take a disciplined, intentional approach to addressing current workforce training needs. Drawing on EDA’s proven sectoral partnership approach to workforce development, this funding opportunity invites industry and training providers to identify real-world AI use cases and collaboratively design and implement programs that build in-demand AI skills in areas where AI can best help workers.

Strong projects will be employer-driven and offer training in high-demand AI skills. EDA is looking for training and employer partners that are ready to leverage their respective expertise to better understand where and how AI can best help workers on the job and support business outcomes. These partnerships will design and deliver trainings that give businesses confidence in their workers’ abilities to perform with AI.

This funding opportunity is not prescriptive. EDA encourages project proposals across a wide range of application leads, sectors, industries, jobs, and training approaches. We are also looking for use cases that go beyond basic AI literacy and use of large language models, and instead seek projects that will identify how AI can be put to best use. This funding opportunity provides a runway for applicants to develop innovative models that are responsive to their specific industry and local needs.

EDA will prioritize learning from projects that deliver results. The applications submitted to EDA during this competitive process will help us to better understand AI’s potential to uplift workers and the type of support necessary to effectively integrate AI skills into workforce training. In addition, the portfolio of five to eight selected projects will inform bold strategies to support American workers in adapting to a future with AI. This funding opportunity asks applicants to detail realistic but ambitious project outcomes. EDA will track and monitor training metrics, such as program completions and job placements, and leverage our existing partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau to evaluate this program’s impact on job retention and wages. In partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Center for AI Standards and Innovation, EDA’s program will help inform our collective understanding of how AI workforce training can improve outcomes like productivity and efficiency.