Career Academy Incentive Fund Grant

The Career Academy Incentive Fund Grant, established by the Iowa Department of Education, supports collaborations between school districts and community colleges to enhance career academy programs. Grants up to $1 million are available annually, focusing on projects that meet specified criteria. Career academies link secondary education with postsecondary opportunities through concurrent enrollment, themed coursework, and strong partnerships. Priority is given to collaborative proposals delivered via regional centers, ensuring broad access and impactful educational experiences.

Background
The Career Academy Incentive Fund was created through the reauthorization of the Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) fund in 2019. It provides targeted grants to support partnerships between school districts and community colleges that expand access to career academy programs, with a focus on programming delivered through regional centers. Annually, the Iowa Department of Education will award grants of up to $1 million for projects that best meet the criteria specified in statute (the number of grants issued will be based on the amount of available funds and types of applications received).
According to the Iowa statute, career academies are career-oriented programs of study that link secondary career and technical education to a postsecondary education program. The career academy concept has three key elements:
Concurrent enrollment coursework where students earn both high school and college credit upon successful completion of community college coursework.A sequence of coursework with a career theme which provides an appropriate foundation for entrance into the postsecondary program.Strong partnerships between employers, school districts, higher education institutions and the community.
Regional Center
A regional center is a facility for the delivery of career and technical education programming. Regional centers must:
Provide access to at least four career academy programs.Serve either a combined minimum of 120 students from at least two school districts or a minimum of four school districts.

Eligibility

A school district or community college may submit an application.To be eligible, applications must include one school district and one community college