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CEJA Capacity Grant Now Accepting Applications
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The Climate & Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) Capacity Grant Program provides Illinois community-based organizations with direct funding, leadership development, resources, and expert coaching to strengthen organizational capacity, allowing for the effective implementation of CEJA programming throughout the State of Illinois.

 Export to Your Calendar 7/1/2026 to 7/24/2026
When: Wednesday, July 1, 2026
Where: Online
United States
Contact: Workforce Policy Lab team
CEJACapacity@niu.edu

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The Northern Illinois University Workforce Policy Lab has announced that the CEJA Capacity Grant is now accepting applications! You are invited to explore this opportunity and take advantage of the resources available to support your application.

Each selected grantee will receive a minimum of $100,000 and 12 months of support from a Non-Profit Management Consultant, Leadership Development Consultant, and Fundraising Consultant. The performance period will be 3 years beginning in the Summer 2026 - Summer 2029.

Eligibility Requirements:

  • Must be an Illinois-based 501 (c) (3) organization

  • Must be in good standing with the Illinois Secretary of State

  • Cannot be on the state or federal suspended/banned funding list

  • Have an annual operating budget of $100,000 - $2,000,000

  • Must fit one of the descriptions below:

  • An active DCEO CEJA grantee or sub-grantee/ recipient OR

  • Qualify as a potential CEJA organization by meeting one of the criteria below:

  • Applied for a DCEO CEJA grant, but the application was denied

  • Organization has experience with similar work to the program area (workforce, contractor, and/or economic development) they are seeking to apply for, but not in clean energy

  • Organization’s mission/ program is clean energy, but does not currently have the organizational capacity to apply for or execute a DCEO CEJA project/program

Get Started:

Visit the program landing page for everything you need, including the program information session recording, transcript, and slide deck:

go.niu.edu/CEJACapacity

Need Help with Your Application?

The program offers several technical assistance resources to help make your application as strong as possible. Visit the program landing page and look under "Technical Assistance & Resources" for helpful tools and guidance.

Technical Assistance Office Hours:

Join one of two live office hour sessions for personalized application support and clarification:

Session #1

Tuesday, June 30, 2026 | 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM

Click Here to Register

Session #2

Tuesday, July 14, 2026 | 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Click Here to Register

Questions?

Feel free to reach out directly to the Workforce Policy Lab team at CEJACapacity@niu.edu

This program is funded by the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity (DCEO)'s Energy Transition Assistance Fund and is administered by the Workforce Policy Lab at Northern Illinois University.

Learn more and see the application materials here


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