[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 70 (Friday, April 11, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17871-17879]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-9191]



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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration


Job Training Partnership Act, Title IV-D, Pilot and Demonstration 
Program: Out-of-School Youth Opportunity Area Demonstration

AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Labor.

ACTION: Notice of availability of funds and Solicitation for grant 
application (SGA).

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Employment and Training 
Administration (ETA), announces a program to select a small number of 
sites to serve as demonstrations for a comprehensive approach aimed at 
improving the labor market prospects of out-of-school youth in high 
poverty areas. This demonstration would be designed to provide 
employment, education and training opportunities, mentoring support, 
leadership, development and other services as needed for all youth in 
the target areas designated as Empowerment Zones (EZ) or Enterprise 
Communities (EC). This notice provides information on the process that 
eligible entities must use to apply for these demonstration funds and 
how grantees will be selected.
    Funds for these demonstration programs are authorized under the Job 
Training Partnership Act, (JTPA), Title IV-D. It is anticipated that up 
to $4.5 million will be available for funding.

DATES: The closing date for receipt of proposals is May 12, 1997 at 
2:00 PM (Eastern Time).

ADDRESSES: Applications shall be mailed to: U.S. Department of Labor, 
Employment and Training Administration, Division of Acquisition and 
Assistance, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room S-4203, Washington, DC 
20210; Attention: Ms. Brenda Banks, Reference SGA/DAA 97-013.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Brenda Banks, Division of Acquisition and Assistance, Telephone: (202) 
219-8694 (This is not a toll-free number). This solicitation will also 
be published on the Internet on the Employment and Training 
Administration's Home Page at http://www/doleta.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: All information required to submit a grant 
application is contained in this announcement. This announcement 
consists of five parts. Part I describes the purpose of the 
demonstration program. Part II describes the eligibility and award 
information. Part III includes the program outline of the demonstration 
projects. Part IV describes the application process. Part V describes 
the evaluation and rating criteria.

Part I--Purpose

    This grant announcement continues a pilot demonstration of a new 
initiative for out-of-school youth proposed in the President's 1998 
budget. Under this demonstration, an Opportunity Area would be created 
to expand employment, education, and training opportunities for out-of-
school youth ages 16-24, with priority given to high school dropouts. 
The demonstration would be designed to provide employment, education 
and training opportunities, mentoring support, leadership development 
and other services as needed for all youth in the target areas. It 
would complement both the economic development initiative of the 
Empowerment Zone and the School-to-Work system being implemented. As 
some proportion of target area residents will live in public housing, 
it will also complement efforts by the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development (HUD) to address the isolation of public housing residents. 
The aim of the demonstration is to build a system of constructive 
education/training/employment and personal development activities for 
out-of-school youth that parallels the system being implemented for a 
school youth under the School-to-Work Opportunities Act so as to raise 
and maintain substantially higher employment rates for out-of-school 
youth.
    Research findings have shown that both education and employment are 
critical factors in improving long term earnings for out-of-school 
youth. Another primary goal of this project is to raise employment 
rates in the target area to 80 percent among the out-of-school youth 
population through the creation of a new approach to addressing their 
needs.

Part II--Eligibility Requirements

Eligible Applicants

    This grant competition is limited to Service Delivery Areas (SDAs) 
covering urban and rural sites designated by HUD and the Department of 
Agriculture as Empowerment Zones (EZ's), supplemental empowerment 
zones, Enterprise Communities (EC's), or enhanced enterprise 
communities. In EZ/EC's that include more than one SDA (e.g., 
Philadelphia/Camden and Kansas City, Missouri/Kansas), the SDAs can 
submit either separate applications or a joint application. SDAs shall 
provide evidence that they are located within the EZ/ECs. To be 
eligible to apply, SDAs will need to identify a contiguous set of 
census tracts with a population of at least 10,000 in the 1990 Census. 
SDAs will need to list as co-supporters the local public school system, 
the local EZ/EC governing board, representatives of major employer 
networks, including employers connected to the school-to-work effort, 
the State School-to-Work Partnership, and if applicable, the local 
School-to-Work Partnership. Community based organizations (CBOs) should 
also be involved in preparing the application. The State should also be 
involved in the application and the Governor should provide a letter of 
support.
    Applicants should outline how they will also involve residents and 
youth in planning and implementation of the project. Partners and/or 
co-supporters are not necessarily subcontractors. Some will bring 
resources to the table that are already funded and available to youth 
in the targeted community.
    Entities described in Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue 
Code that engage in lobbying activities are not eligible to receive 
funds under this SGA. The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, Public Law 
No. 104-65, 109 Stat. 691, that became effective January 1, 1996, 
prohibits the award of federal funds to these entities if they engage 
in lobbying activities.

Target Population

    Application should identify a target area within the EZ/EC with a 
population of between 10,000 and 15,000 persons and poverty rate in the 
1990 Census that is among the highest in the EZ/EC. In urban sites, the 
target area should be comprised of contiguous census tracts. In rural 
counties larger than 15,000, the target area should be comprised of 
contiguous census tracts or block numbering areas. In both urban and 
rural sites, the target area should include a high school and at least 
one middle school. It is particularly important in rural communities 
with a limited number of employers that job commitments be currently 
available.

Grant Awards

    The Department expects to award two (2) grants of up to $2.250 
million each under this competition. Pending availability of funds and 
grantee's performance, some level of second and third year funding may 
also be provided to the demonstration sites. Award decisions will be 
published on the Internet under the Department's Home Page at http://
www/doleta.gov.

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Part III--Program Outline

Program Components

    Grant funds shall be used for building appropriate activities into 
a coherent system that connects disconnected youth to long term 
development relationships and services needed for permanent long term 
employment. The component parts of the system needs to be responsive to 
the particular problems of out-of-school youth in high poverty areas, 
especially the pervasive joblessness of males. Many appropriate 
building blocks and allowable activities may be operating in or near 
the target area. From programs such as the Center for Employment 
Training (CET), YouthBuild, WorkPlus, youth conservation corps, and 
alternative schools, we have learned some principles about ``what 
works'':
     Continuous support of a caring adult.
     Strong and effective connections to employers.
     Opportunities for improving educational skills and 
certification.
     Program support and services over an extended period of 
time.
     Motivation techniques, incentives, peer group activities, 
leadership training.
    Through this grant, the services provided need to be strengthened 
in accordance with these principles and linked together to provide 
youth suitable options. Guidance in making choices need to be provided 
by adult mentors working with youth over an extended period of time. 
All components must effectively link youth to a network of employers, 
both public and private.
    Allowable activities include, but are not limited to, job placement 
officers working to link youth with private sector employers; on-the-
job training; training based on the model programs such as CET in San 
Jose; YouthBuild type programs directed towards rehabilitating inner-
city housing and that teach leadership skills and prepare youth for 
construction careers; WorkPlus efforts to coordinate with employers to 
structure secondary labor market jobs into career ladders; alternative 
schools; local conservation corps programs for youth who need to gain 
disciplined work experience before being ready for private sector 
placement; and adult mentors working with youth over an extended period 
of time.
    The CET program provides training in high-wage occupations and has 
strong links to the private sector. The WorkPlus program is in a sense 
of temporary employment service that provides youth with a series of 
jobs with progressive responsibilities. DOL expects that various CBOs 
in each site will operate many of the services provided under this 
grant.
    The initiative will saturate the local community by making 
employment and training services available to all unemployed youth who 
reside in the community and by establishing an integrated 
administrative structure with other service providers who are already 
located in the community to attract and/or create needed services to 
achieve the goal of this demonstration.
    Other activities should include teaching life skills that focus on 
such issues on ethics, loyalty, honesty, positive attitudes, and daily 
behavior and responsibilities that participants are expected to have 
for successful employment and a productive life style. Services should 
not be fragmented, but should operate as an integrated system that 
supports and furthers the notion of sustaining the effort beyond the 
grant period through the creation of a new or changed infrastructure.
    The program's primary outreach, intake and counseling activities 
should operate through a neighborhood-based center. All other 
connecting activities should be easily accessible to program 
participants and should be provided in settings of small learning 
communities.

Investment of Co-Supporters and Other Partners: (Matching Requirement)

    Applicants should use partnerships to enhance the out-of-school 
programs funded under the grant; and to provide complementary programs 
and services so as to make the target neighborhood an Opportunity Area 
for all youth. A one to one match is required. It is expected that co-
supporters and other partners will invest State, local and other 
federal resources to secure the success of the project. Complementary 
projects should include: (1) school-to-work efforts in the target area 
high school; (2) commitments for specific numbers of career-track jobs 
by employers, both engaged in school-to-work efforts and those who are 
not; (3) school district efforts to reduce the dropout and truancy 
rates in area middle schools and high schools; (4) investments from 
State and other federal programs; (5) a public/private collaboration to 
start a College Bound Program in the target area; and (6) a 
comprehensive sports and recreation program for youth of all ages in 
the target neighborhood.
    The application should provide dollar values of matching 
contributions from each supporter, and these figures will be included 
in the final grant budget. The investments of co-supporters and 
partners should equal or exceed the investment of DOL in the first year 
of the project, and this matching ratio will increase over the life of 
the grant.
    Applicants also should agree to a good faith effort to continue 
initiatives started under this grant beyond the potential three year 
grant period. Applicants are encouraged to use State and local 
educational funds to support education and training services for youth 
who have dropped out of school.

Evaluation Component

    The demonstration sites will be required to collect and maintain 
participant records so that this can be a learning experience for DOL. 
These participant records should be similar to the Standardized Program 
Information Reports (SPIR) required for JTPA Title II programs. No 
funds under this grant should be set aside for local evaluations, as 
the project will be evaluated through DOL. The DOL evaluation will be 
aimed primarily at learning from this demonstration how to better 
implement a broader Youth Opportunity Area initiative.

Sample Site Plan

    One example of the type of plan that could be included in the 
proposal is shown below. This example is intended to be illustrative 
rather than prescriptive. It is expected that each community will 
develop a plan that is tailored to their area. In this example, the 
target community within the EZ/EC has a population of 15,000, with 
2,240 16-24 year olds and with 20 percent of its population living in 
public housing. Roughly half of the 16-24 year olds are out-of-school 
and 40 percent of the out-of-school youth are employed. To reach an 80% 
employment level for this group will require 896 being employed, or 448 
more jobs. To achieve this level of employment and to stem the dropout 
rate, the following programs will be developed with the DOL grant and 
matching funds (again, this is an example):

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                             DOL grant      Local match 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Job Developers (250 youth @$2,000)......        $400,000  ..............

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CET training (75 youth @$6,500).........         150,000        $337,500
On-the-job training (75 youth @$5,000)..         250,000         125,000
YouthBuild (40 youth @$20,000)..........         600,000         200,000
Local conservation corps (40 youth                                      
 @$20,000)..............................         500,000         300,000
Alternative school (65 youth @$8,000)...         260,000         260,000
Enhanced school-to-work effort..........          60,000         265,000
Middle school restructuring.............          30,000         230,000
Futures program in high school..........  ..............         200,000
College Bound program...................  ..............         200,000
Sports and recreation program...........  ..............         140,000
                                         -------------------------------
                                               2,250,000       2,257,500
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The matching funds for other program services such as CET and OJT 
training could be used to serve 22-24 year olds, and thus come from 
JTPA Title II-A. The YouthBuild and conservation corps type programs 
matching funds could come from local corporations and foundations. 
Matching funds for a new alternative school in the target community 
would come from State or local education funds, HUD, and Pell grants. 
In addition to providing matching funds for job training programs, the 
local area should also provide matching funds for new initiatives to 
strengthen the target area's middle schools and high schools. These 
initiatives would include enhanced school-to-work efforts in the high 
school; a ``Futures'' program to prepare entering ninth graders for 
starting high school and to provide outreach workers to keep youth in 
school; a College Bound program; and a comprehensive sports and 
recreation program for youth. These initiatives would be paid for 
through a combination of public school funds, local corporations, and 
local foundations. A significant number of private sector jobs would 
also be pledged for participants.

Part IV--Application Process

    Eligible SDAs must begin as quickly as possible forming the 
partnerships with State and local school-to-work efforts, local public 
schools, empowerment zones, and the private sector necessary to carry 
out this project. An original and three (3) copies of the proposal must 
be submitted. The proposal must consist of two (2) separate and 
distinct parts--Part I, the financial Proposal and Part II, the 
Technical Proposal. Applicants shall indicate on the SF-424 the 
organization's IRS Status. The Federal Domestic Assistance Catalog 
number is 17.249.
    1. Financial Proposal must contain Standard Form 424, ``Application 
for Federal Assistance'' (Appendix A); and the ``Budget Information 
Sheet'' (Appendix B), for the first 18 month operating period. The 
budget must include on a separate page a detailed breakout of each 
budget line item.
    2. Technical Proposal must not be more than 10 single spaced, 
single sided 8.5  x  11 inch pages with 1 inch margins. Attachments 
must not exceed 10 pages. Applications that fail to meet the page 
limitation requirement will not be considered. The technical proposal 
should reflect the local partnerships that are being developed, and 
should include answers to the following questions:
    (a) What is the need in the target community? What is its 
population and poverty rate in the 1990 Census? What are the dropout 
rates of the target area high schools, as measured by the number of 
ninth graders enrolled in September of 1992 and the number of students 
graduating in June of 1996?
    (b) What new system building initiatives for out-of-school youth 
will be funded with the grant? Show how these initiatives, particularly 
the employer connections, will be integrated into the new system.
    (c) How will this new initiative fit into your overall EZ/EC?
    (d) What school-to-work initiatives consistent with the School-to-
Work Opportunities Act of 1994 currently exist in the target area high 
school? What additional school-to-work initiatives will be implemented 
if this grant is received to like employers with out-of-school youth?
    (e) What dropout prevention efforts currently exist in the target 
area middle schools and high schools? What new initiatives are 
committed as a match if this grant is received?
    (f) What do local major corporations promise as their role if the 
area becomes an opportunity area? The application should be clear in 
specifying existing private sector activities and new activities 
promised as a match. The specific number of jobs pledged for target 
area youth should be included in the application.
    (g) What State and local public sector matching commitments are 
being promised? Again, the application should be clear in specifying 
existing public sector activities in the target area and new activities 
promised as a match. These may be neighborhood development projects, 
self supporting you corps, community service crops, etc.
    (h) What strategy do you have for maintaining these enhanced 
services to out-of-school youth after the demonstration has ended? Will 
school funds be provided?
    The technical proposal should also include letters of commitment 
from the local chief elected official and the Governor, and the letter 
of commitment signed by appropriate officials (Appendix C).

CLOSING DATE: All applications must be received at the specified 
location by May 12, 1997 at 2:00 p.m. (Eastern Time). Applications must 
be mailed no later than five (5) days prior to the closing date for the 
receipt of applications. However, if proposals are hand-delivered, they 
must be received at the designated place by 2:00 PM, Eastern Time on 
the closing date for receipt of applications. All overnight mail will 
be considered to be hand-delivered mail. Telegraphed and/or faxed 
proposals will be found to be nonresponsive and will not be honored. 
Proposals that fail to adhere to the above instructions will not be 
considered.

Late Proposals

    Any proposal received at the office designated in this solicitation 
after the exact time specified for receipt will not be considered 
unless it--
    (1) Was sent by U.S. Postal Service registered or certified mail no 
later than the fifth calendar day before the closing date specified for 
receipt of applications; or
    (2) Was sent by U.S. Postal Service Express mail Next Day Service--
Post Office to Addressee, not later than 5:00 P.M. at the place of 
mailing two working

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days prior to the date specified for receipt of proposals. The term 
``working days'' excludes weekends and U.S. Federal holidays.
    The only acceptable evidence to establish the date of mailing of a 
late proposal sent by U.S. Postal Service registered or certified mail 
or Express Mail Next-Day Service--Post Office to Addressee is the U.S. 
postmark on the envelope or wrapper; or by the date entered by the post 
office receiving clerk on the mailing label; and on the original 
receipt from the Postal Service. Both postmarks must show a legible 
date or the proposal shall be processed as if it had been mailed late. 
Therefore, applicants should request the postal clerk to place a 
legible hand cancellation ``bull's eye'' postmark on both the receipt 
and the envelope or wrapper.

Withdrawal of Proposals

    Proposals may be withdrawn by written notice or telegram (including 
mailgram) received at any time before award. Proposals may be withdrawn 
in person by the applicant or by an authorized representative thereof, 
if the representative's identity is made known and the representative 
signs a receipt for the proposal.

Part V--Evaluation Criteria

    Prospective offerers are advised that the selection of grantee(s) 
for award is to be made after careful evaluation of proposals by a 
panel within DOL. Each panelist will evaluate the proposals for 
acceptability against the factors enumerated below. The panel results 
are advisory in nature and not binding on the ETA Grant Officer:
    (1) Need in target neighborhood, as measured by its poverty rate in 
the 1990 Census (10 Points)
    (2) Plan and capacity for conducting project. (30 Points)
    (3) Level of investments of schools and other public sector 
partners. (25 Points)
    (4) Level of investments (matching funds) of private sector 
partners, including commitments for private-sector jobs. (15 Points)
    (5) Current school-to-work program and plans for next year's 
school-to-work program in target area high school. (10 Points)
    (6) Dropout prevention plans. (10 Points)
    Applicants are advised that discussions may be necessary in order 
to clarify any inconsistencies in their applications. The final 
decision on awards will be based on what is most advantageous to the 
Federal Government, taking into account factors such as geographic 
diversity, mix of EZs and ECs, and demographic characteristics.
    The Government may elect to award grant(s) without discussions with 
the offers. In such situations, an award based on the offerer's 
signature on the SF-424 constitutes a binding offer.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 4th day of April, 1997.
Janice E. Perry,
Grant Officer, Employment and Training Administration.

Appendices

1. Appendix--``Application for Federal Assistance'' (SF-424)
2. Appendix B--``Budget Information''
3. Appendix C--``Letter of Commitment''

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[FR Doc. 97-9191 Filed 4-10-97; 8:45 am]
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