Overview: In 2018, the Virginia General Assembly appropriated funding to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) to stimulate public colleges and universities to develop partnerships to provide innovative paid internship opportunities for their students. In 2019, the effort was expanded and enacted into law as the Innovative Internship Fund and Program. In 2020, through a partnership with the Virginia Chamber Foundation, the program was rebranded as the Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership (V-TOP).

Purpose: The program aims to expand high-quality, paid, and credit-bearing student internships and other work-based learning opportunities in collaboration with Virginia employers. The program comprises institutional grants and a statewide initiative to facilitate the readiness of students, employers, and institutions of higher education to participate in internships and other work-based learning opportunities.

Informational Webinar

In December 2023, V-TOP staff offered an informational webinar about all of the institutional grant opportunities available and how to apply. The slide deck describes the purpose of the grants, upcoming deadlines, and how to apply.

In December 2022, SCHEV staff offered an informational webinar about the Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership. The slide deck describes the purpose of the initiative, the benefits of internships, history, readiness resources developed for employers, students and institutions of higher education, and action opportunities for participants.

Grants to Institutions

Impact Grants  The purpose of the Internship and Work-based Learning Impact Grant is to support institutions that aim to increase student participation in paid internships and work-based learning opportunities.

Mike Rowe Works, Work Ethic Curriculum: Letter of Interest Instructions The focus of this grant competition is to support the readiness of students through implementation of the Mike Rowe Works – Work Ethic Curriculum in each of the nine V-TOP regions of the Commonwealth.

Transforming Federal Work-Study -  Call for Applications
Recognizing the diversity of Virginia’s higher education institutions and the fact that institutions are at various stages in the process, the intent of this call for applications is to support institutions wherever they are at in their journey to transform federal work-study (FWS) jobs to be internships/more internship-like while adhering to federal policy requirements for FWS. 

New Eligibility Guidelines for Institutions
In addition to accepting grant applications on a rolling basis, SCHEV is pleased to announce that nonprofit private institutions of higher education that participate in the Tuition Assistance Grant (TAG) Program are now eligible to apply.

Regional Collaboratives
One application may be submitted from each GO Virginia region to support regional collaborative efforts to connect employers to students and assure the readiness of employers, students and institutions to increase significantly the number of high-quality paid internships and other work-based learning opportunities.

Professional Development Scholarships

Scholarships for professional development are available to professionals currently working in the field and to graduate students in selected degree programs whose career involves connecting students, institutions of higher education and the employer community with the goal of expanding paid and credit-bearing internship and other work-based learning opportunities (job shadowing, tours, mentorship, externships, apprenticeships, field experiences, etc.). Details are available on the Professional Development Scholarship page.