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Request for Grant Applications: Quality Employment for Older Workers in California
With this Request for Applications (RFA), AARP Foundation seeks to support projects that enhance quality employment for older adults with low income in the state of California.
Download the Full RFA and Pre-application
Project Overview
Through our grantmaking, AARP Foundation aims to support leaders, organizations, and coalitions with projects that embed age-inclusive practices within workforce systems and services to further create pathways to quality employment for older adults 50+ with low income.
Quality employment means work that provides stable earnings, fair treatment, opportunities to build skills or advance, and enough flexibility and support to sustain employment through subsequent transitions.
AARP Foundation seeks to support programs and projects that focus on:
1. Age-Inclusive Training, Education, and Employment Services
This could include but is not limited to:
- Redesigning job-connected training programs and services to intentionally serve older workers and address their needs.
- Developing approaches specifically designed to reach and support older workers by helping recruit, prepare, and connect them to quality job opportunities.
2. Age-Inclusive Workforce Systems and Service Alignment
This could include but is not limited to:
- Creating stronger connections between support services for unemployment, workforce development, and reemployment.
- Improving referral pathways between public agencies and community organizations.
- Testing coordinated service models to specifically reach older workers who may be navigating multiple benefits and support resources during periods of job transition.
Download the Full RFA and Pre-application
Criteria for Proposals
- Intervention method: Projects should focus on systems change initiatives and not direct service programs.
- Population: Projects must primarily impact older adults 50+ with low income or who face financial insecurity and rely on work to meet basic needs.
- Location: Projects must be implemented in the state of California.
AARP Foundation seeks to invest $2M in grants and expects to make grant awards to up to four but no more than eight grantees. Applicants must request funding commensurate with the project scope, activities, and anticipated outcomes.
AARP Foundation anticipates awarding grants ranging from $250,000 to $750,000 for projects with implementation periods of 12 to 24 months.
Project proposals for 12-months may request up to $375,000; 24-month project proposals, up to $750,000.
Key Dates and Deadlines
August 6, 2026: Funding opportunity announced and pre-application available
Week of August 17, 2026: FAQ available
September 1, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. PT (10:00 p.m. ET): Pre-application submission deadline
Mid-September 2026: Selected applicants invited to submit a full application
Mid-October 2026: Full application submission deadline
October - November 2026: Clarification and follow-up period (as needed)
December 2026: Applicants notified of funding decisions
Contact
For questions about this RFA or for technical support with submitting an application through AARP Foundation's Grantee Portal (Fluxx) please contact the AARP Foundation Grants Management team at aarp_foundation_grants@aarp.org.
Frequently Asked Questions
A: For this opportunity, AARP Foundation understands quality employment as employment that provides stable earnings, fair treatment, opportunities to build skills or advance, and enough flexibility and support to sustain employment through subsequent transitions.
A: For this opportunity, AARP Foundation understands systems change as fundamental and sustained changes in policies, processes, relationships, and power structures, as well as deeply held values and norms.
A: Yes. Multiple individuals from the same organization can create accounts in Fluxx and collaborate on the pre-application.
A: Yes. Organizations not based in California are welcome to apply for this grant so long as the proposed projects are implemented in California.
A: A single organization must submit a proposal and will be responsible for managing the grant. AARP Foundation welcomes project proposals with more than one implementing partner.
Download the Full RFA and Pre-application
AARP Foundation seeks to support projects that enhance quality employment for older adults with low income in the state of California.