2024-27 Regional Plan

Strong Workforce Program

  • Next Deadline: FY 2026-2027 Q2 Reporting Due February 15, 2027

Overview

Developing Workforce Opportunities

The Strong Workforce Program (SWP) is a transformative statewide initiative designed to expand and enhance Career Education (CE) across California’s community colleges to drive regional economic growth and social mobility. Guided by the mandate to deliver “more and better” career education, the program allocates ongoing local and regional funding to align CTE coursework with the fast-evolving labor market demands of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Through the Bay Area Community College Consortium (BACCC), regional colleges, industry leadership, and workforce development boards unite to build high-quality, streamlined career pathways that lead directly to high-demand, living-wage jobs. By leveraging labor market data, supporting cross-district innovation, and closing equity gaps, BACCC’s Strong Workforce investments empower Bay Area students to gain vital skills while equipping regional employers with a highly skilled, diverse workforce.

Additional Program Details
  • Data-Driven Alignment: Using real-time labor market information (LMI) to develop, adapt, and expand regional programs.
  • Regional Collaboration: Pooling 40% Regional Share funding to coordinate high-impact initiatives across Bay Area community college districts.
  • Economic Mobility: Lifting low-wage workers into living-wage careers while addressing critical industry skills gaps in the region.

For questions or assistance, please email help@baccc.net.

SWP Regional Distribution

Round 11 • 2026-27 Allocation

By vote of our member colleges, the Bay Area regional share is divided into three funds each year. The 2026-27 regional allocation is $16,145,227.

BAY AREA REGIONAL SHARE RECEIVED

$ 0

FUND 1 • 82.5%

Direct-to-college regional allocations

$13,319,813

Distributed to each district in the same percentage that the district received local share funds.

FUND 2 • 12.5%

Regional Joint Venture fund

$2,018,153

Multi-college ventures (RJVs) awarded regionally to build shared CTE capacity.

FUND 3 • 5%

BACCC administration & operations

$807,261

Regional planning, convening, reporting, and NOVA plan administration.

Every dollar is planned and reported through NOVA. Colleges certify Round 11 spending plans, Regional Joint Ventures are awarded regionally, and expenditures are reported by activity and object code.

The BACCC is sponsored by the Cabrillo Community College District as the recipient of a grant disbursed by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.

Bay Area Regional Allocations

Invoicing BACCC

For Expenditure Reimbursement

Please contact the BACCC via email to help@baccc.net to have the invoice template emailed to you directly.

G&L NOVA Template

This easy template will help you customize your College’s G/L report to accompany an invoice and organize your G/L to cross-reference to NOVA projects for reimbursement of expenditures.

Invoices Should Match Up With The General Ledger

Every dollar of expenditure reported in your invoice should be tied to a GL account and a particular project in NOVA. That expense should be described in your NOVA project. We will ask you to certify this in your invoice.

What we like to see:

Your General Ledger shows that you have spent $20,000 in faculty salaries. Your latest quarterly NOVA reports show that you have spent $12,000 in faculty salaries for a project to redesign your Welding program curriculum and $8,000 in faculty salaries for professional development for your Early Childhood Education program.

Example of a problem:

Your general ledger shows $50,000 in expenditures in professional services in the 5000 category. In your latest quarterly NOVA reports, we see that you had reported the expenditure of $20,000 to a consultant to develop a new program in diesel mechanics and $10,000 to a consultant for project managing the development of pathway between the adult education programs and your Hospitality program. We can find no record in your NOVA reports of the expenditure of the remaining $30,000 in the 5000 category.

Submit Documents

Invoices Should Include Documentation

Specifically, documentation to reconcile the invoice with printouts of your General Ledger and with your quarterly report in NOVA. There are a number of ways in which this requirement may be met.

What we like to see:

Your General Ledger shows expenses by project in the same way they are reported in NOVA. This is easy – all we need is a printout of your detailed General Ledger. If the project names are different, you might need to provide us with a key or annotate the GL. Some colleges assign top codes as a project name, which is very useful for NOVA project cross-referencing.

Your general ledger doesn’t break out expenses by project, but you have a spreadsheet or other system that tracks expenses by project that is reconciled with the general ledger. Send us printouts of your GL and your spreadsheet with some direction about how the two are reconciled.

You aren’t so fortunate as to be able to do either of the above. Provide us with a printout of the general ledger that allows us to at least reconcile the total amounts reported by object code in the General Ledger with the total amounts by object code across all projects reported in NOVA. Ideally, you would annotate the GL so that we can track every expenditure to its project, but we know that for some of you that could take days of work. In this case, provide us with the level of detail that you are able to do without too much trouble. We may ask for more detail once we see what you send us.

Resources

Chancellor's Office

Regional Monitors

Metrics and Incentive Funding

Allocation Base and Incentive Funds

SWP Tracking

View your Local and Regional Allocations, Regional Fund disbursements, NOVA expenditures, and much more in Knack! Go to the Community College SWP tab, locate your institution, and select the Allocations link in your institution’s row.

SWP Report Request

Use this form to request a report presenting Strong Workforce Program Local and Regional budget and expenditures by project from NOVA.

NOVA Checklist

This checklist contains the main areas of activity for SWP Fiscal reporting in NOVA along with tools and step-by-step instructions for each.

Frequently Asked Questions

BACCC serves as the primary regional grantee and is fiscally housed at the Cabrillo Community College District. Funding is distributed as follows:

  1. Advance Payment: Once a subgrantee agreement (contract) is executed between BACCC and your community college district, an initial 30% advance payment is automatically sent to your district.
  2. Progress Reporting: As the project moves through its performance window, project reporting points of contact (POCs) must submit regular fiscal reports in NOVA. Per Chancellor’s Office guidelines, Quarter 2 reports are due on February 15, and Quarter 4 reports are due on August 15.
  3. Reimbursement & Closeout: During the final year of the performance period, subgrantees must submit a final report on August 15, following the contract expiration date. Once all reports are certified in NOVA, the college must submit a copy of its general ledger (GL) statement and an invoice to the BACCC Operations Team. Once the team verifies that the certified NOVA expenditures match the GL statement, the remaining reimbursement is sent to the district.

If a college or district is unable to fully spend down its encumbered funds, they can transfer the remaining balance back to BACCC. These returned funds are used to support Regional Joint Ventures (RJVs) or other high-priority regional projects. To coordinate a transfer, your college’s CC SWP Regional Funds POC should email tyra@baccc.net or help@baccc.net to receive step-by-step instructions.

No, new rounds of CC SWP Regional Funds will continue to be allocated across Bay Area districts. However, if a college or district has outstanding unspent funds from a previous round, BACCC may pause execution of the new round’s contract until all outstanding project plans and fiscal reports from the older round are certified in NOVA.

All reporting is completed online through the NOVA system. For every CC SWP-funded project, colleges must first have an approved project plan in NOVA, followed by regular, recurring fiscal reporting as required by the California Community College Chancellor’s Office. 

CC SWP funds are specifically dedicated to expanding and improving career technical education (CTE) with the goal of training more middle-skill workers and lifting low-wage workers into living-wage jobs. 

Standard Uses of CC SWP Regional Funds

  • Marketing and outreach to attract students to regional CTE programs 
  • Not-for-credit training and workforce readiness programs
  • Project management for large-scale CTE initiatives
  • Match funds for consortium grants

Workforce data and planning tools to align education with labor market needs

No. SWP funds operate strictly under supplement-not-supplant rules. This means SWP funds must be used to add to or enhance existing program activities; they cannot be used to cover or replace costs already funded by existing state, local, or federal budgets.

  • Students: Yes. SWP funds can be used for student stipends or direct payments tied to industry certification fees, work-based learning, or integrated educational programs.
  • Faculty/Staff: Yes. SWP funds can be used for faculty or staff stipends for work directly tied to a certified SWP project.

No. CC SWP Regional Funds are contract-bound. Funds from different rounds cannot be co-mingled or combined. They must be tracked and spent strictly on the activities and within the period of performance outlined in that specific round’s fully executed contract.

  • Maintain a Shadow Budget to closely track your projects internally.
  • Complete and finalize budgets at the college level before entering them into NOVA.
  • Continue existing projects whenever possible to maintain momentum.
  • Please keep in mind the Chancellor’s Office guidance regarding reporting encumbrances. 

Knack SWP Tracking Platform: Allows colleges and multi-college districts to view their fiscal status (e.g., budget, expenditures) and track NOVA reporting status updates.

NOVA Resource Bank: Access resources on navigating NOVA, searching for past and current CC SWP-funded projects, and completing required project plans, fiscal reports, and final reports.

SWP Report: Submit an online request for a custom CC SWP report for your college or district and review fiscal updates.

GL NOVA Cross Reference: An Excel template designed to help reconcile your final invoice with your GL before submitting for reimbursement.

NOVA Sandbox: A test environment where you can practice entering data and navigating the NOVA system before making live changes.

We encourage all colleges, districts, LEA partners, BACCC staff, and other stakeholders to provide more visibility to CC SWP Regional – funded projects by submitting success stories. Please submit your success stories here. 

Please ensure our team has an active primary CC SWP Point of Contact for your college or district, including the staff member’s:

  • Full Name
  • Position Title
  • Email Address
  • Direct Phone Number

Keeping this information current ensures our distribution lists remain accurate, allowing us to send critical updates and administer your CC SWP Regional Funds effectively.

The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office typically announces funding allocations for the current fiscal year during late summer, usually in July or August.

Yes. Periodic training sessions and workshops are offered by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, BACCC, and other regional consortia statewide. The BACCC Operations Team also provides one-on-one training and technical assistance for Bay Area college and district team members. You can submit a training request to tyra@baccc.net or help@baccc.net. 

Please contact the NOVA HelpDesk directly for assistance with resolving technical issues within the NOVA system. 

To learn more about statewide guidelines, please visit the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office Strong Workforce Program page.