District of Columbia Workforce Pell
Live: First Round Closed Sep 30; Reviews Up to 60 Days. Last documented action: Sep 30, 2026.
Drawn from District of Columbia’s row in the Workforce Pell State Implementation Record, which tracks all 52 jurisdictions from primary sources: state agency pages, board minutes, statutes and U.S. Department of Education releases.
Where District of Columbia stands on Workforce Pell
- Status
- Live: an operational approval process underway, an open application window, a pilot cohort accepting programs, or an eligible-program list being finalized and submitted to ED (the Record’s definition).
- Phase
- First Round Closed Sep 30; Reviews Up to 60 Days
- Lead agency
- Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education (coordinates and certifies on the Mayor's behalf), with the DC Workforce Pell Grant Steering Committee (DME, WIC, OSSE, DOES, DMPED)
- Current holdup
- DME
- Final policy dated September 1 posted with the eligible-occupations list and readiness checklist; first-round submissions closed September 30 with no post-deadline announcement or submission counts from DME; reviews run up to 60 days with a 15-day appeal window, two application cycles per year
- State portal
- dme.dc.gov
What the record documents
The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education posted a full draft DC Workforce Pell Policy (dated July 8, 2026), a draft eligible-occupations list, and an institutional readiness checklist for a 14-day public comment period, July 8 through July 21, 2026, following an interagency working group convened regularly since spring 2026. DME coordinates implementation and issues certifications on the Mayor's behalf, working through a cross-agency DC Workforce Pell Grant Steering Committee (DME, the Workforce Investment Council, OSSE, DOES, and DMPED). Per the draft, a revised policy follows by September 1, 2026 with the first submission deadline by September 30; applications are considered twice a year, reviews take up to 60 days, and applicants have a 15-day appeal window. On schedule, DME posted the final Workforce Pell Policy for Washington, DC (dated September 1, 2026) together with the final DC Workforce Pell Eligible Occupations List and an institutional readiness checklist, and opened the online DC Workforce Pell Program Application, with first-round submissions due September 30, 2026. The final occupations list, built from Lightcast, WIC, and OSSE data and refreshed biannually on the WIC site, names 31 occupations (distinct SOC codes counted from the September file, matching the draft count) concentrated in construction, IT and business administration, transportation, and health care. Under H.R. 1 the Mayor approves Workforce Pell-eligible programs in consultation with the State Workforce Development Board. First-round submissions closed September 30, 2026; as of October 2 DME has published no post-deadline information, with the page unchanged and the same three policy documents posted, so the up-to-60-day review clock now runs toward the first District determinations. Source
Verified against the sources on November 6, 2026.
Key dates for District of Columbia
From the Record’s key-dates panel, recent milestones and upcoming deadlines.
| When | Date | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Recent | Jul 8 | the DC Deputy Mayor for Education posted the District's draft Workforce Pell policy for public comment (through Jul 21) |
| Recent | Jul 21 | DC draft-policy comment closed |
| Recent | Sep 30 | Kentucky's ordinary-regulation hearing date and comment deadline (787 KAR 2:050), Arkansas's extended-window close, and DC's first-round deadline all passed with no outcomes posted |
Eligible occupations in District of Columbia
District of Columbia has 31 occupations on the state’s eligible-occupation list. Open the state’s list. Its list design, side by side with the other published frameworks, is in the State Approval Comparison.
- Approved programs (state / federal)
- None yet
- List philosophy
- Tight list, strict AND screen
- High-wage definition
- 25th percentile wage at or above the MIT Living Wage for one adult in DC ($26.72/hr for 2026)
- Skill and demand logic
- All three required: high-skill (training requirement, IRC, apprenticeship, or associate+), high-wage (25th-percentile wage test), and in-demand (above-median total annual openings in the DC MSA, 105 or more per year)
- Lead and approver
- Mayor approves in consultation with the WIC; DME coordinates and certifies on the Mayor's behalf with the DC Workforce Pell Grant Steering Committee (DME, WIC, OSSE, DOES, DMPED)
- List refresh
- List refreshed at least biennially on the WIC site, with quarterly WIC automation-impact reviews; two application cycles per year, 60-day reviews, 15-day appeals
Approved Workforce Pell programs in District of Columbia
No District of Columbia program appears in the Record’s approved-programs table (U.S. Department of Education announcements and state rosters of federally approved programs) as of November 5, 2026.
Sources
Every primary source the record cites for District of Columbia, last checked November 6, 2026.
- State Workforce Pell portal (dme.dc.gov)
- draft DC Workforce Pell Policy (dme.dc.gov)
- Workforce Pell Policy for Washington, DC (dme.dc.gov)
- DC Workforce Pell Eligible Occupations List (dme.dc.gov)
- DC Workforce Pell Program Application (forms.dc.gov)
- District of Columbia in the State Implementation Record: the national record of all 52 jurisdictions, with this row in context.
- State Approval Comparison: how each state defines eligible programs and occupations.
- Workforce Pell for Students: approved programs, costs and how to apply.
- Workforce Pell by state: every jurisdiction’s page.
- Nearby states: Maryland, Virginia, Delaware.