This bill creates a new competitive grant program at the Department of Labor to support out‑of‑school‑time workforce readiness programming for youth. Grants will fund employability skills, career exploration, mentoring, work‑based learning, and connections to employers through community‑based organizations and partnerships.
The measure focuses on scaling proven providers and integrating services with existing workforce, education, and economic development systems. It also builds evaluation and reporting requirements into grant awards and amends the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to reestablish youth councils as standing subgroups within local workforce boards.
At a Glance
What It Does
The Secretary of Labor awards competitive grants (3–5 year periods) to eligible national youth‑serving organizations to plan, develop, and implement out‑of‑school workforce readiness programs; grantees may issue subgrants to community partners. Programs must supplement, not supplant, existing funds and include performance measurement and periodic federal evaluations.
Who It Affects
National youth‑serving organizations with broad state footprints, community‑based organizations that implement out‑of‑school programs, local workforce boards and school systems, industry/sector partnerships and employers that provide work‑based learning, and eligible youth served through those programs.
Why It Matters
The bill authorizes $100 million annually for FY2026–2030 and creates a federal vehicle to align out‑of‑school learning with employer demand. It also embeds monitoring and WIOA amendments that require youth councils to advise local boards—shifting how local workforce systems plan and report on youth services.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill sets up a competitive grant program administered by the Secretary of Labor to fund out‑of‑school‑time workforce readiness programming. Eligible programming is delivered by community‑based organizations either directly or through covered partnerships that include industry/sector partnerships, local educational agencies, and employers.
The statute ties definitions and program elements to existing Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and Perkins Act language where useful.
Only ‘‘eligible entities’’—defined as national youth‑serving organizations with active chapters, affiliates, or subgrants in at least 35 states—may receive grants. Grants must be used to plan, develop, and operate programs that serve eligible youth (the bill adapts WIOA’s youth definition to cover ages not younger than 6 and not older than 18, or 19 if still enrolled in secondary school).
Awards last between three and five years and grantees may, with DOL approval, provide subgrants to local organizations to deliver services on the ground.Program activities are comprehensive: they include paid and unpaid work experiences (summer jobs, internships, pre‑apprenticeships, registered apprenticeships), work‑based learning tied to Perkins’ definition, occupational training prioritized for programs leading to recognized postsecondary credentials aligned with local in‑demand sectors, employability and social‑emotional skill development, mentoring (minimum 12 months), financial literacy, and supports such as counseling and transportation. The application must show geographic equity (urban/rural balance), populations to be served (including underserved communities), coordination with federal/state/local programs, and a budget.Grantees must collect data and use established performance measures tied to academic alignment and youth success indicators (attendance, grades, program persistence, credential attainment, or work‑based learning completion).
The Secretary conducts periodic evaluations, uses results to inform renewals, and must report evaluation outcomes publicly. Finally, the bill amends WIOA to create youth councils as subgroups of local workforce boards with prescribed membership and duties to advise on youth workforce development.
The Five Things You Need to Know
Eligible entities must be national youth‑serving organizations with community‑level chapters, affiliates, or subgrantees operating in at least 35 States to qualify for a grant.
Grants are awarded for a minimum of 3 years and a maximum of 5 years, and grantees may use funds to issue subgrants to local organizations with DOL approval.
The bill authorizes $100,000,000 per year for fiscal years 2026 through 2030 to fund the program.
The statute adapts the WIOA definition of ‘‘eligible youth’’ to cover individuals aged no younger than 6 and no older than 18 (or 19 if enrolled in secondary school).
The bill amends WIOA to require a youth council as a subgroup of each local workforce board, specifying membership categories and duties to advise on youth workforce readiness.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Purpose: scope and objectives
This section lists five program goals — expanding access to education and training, integrating out‑of‑school programs with workforce systems, improving employer‑aligned skills, engaging employers in youth training and jobs, and including younger youth in age‑appropriate ways. Practically, it signals that applications will be judged for their role in system alignment and employer engagement, not solely for program delivery.
Definitions and linkages to existing law
The bill borrows key definitions from WIOA and Perkins to ensure compatibility with existing workforce and career pathway terminology. It also defines ‘‘community‑based organization,’’ ‘‘covered partnership,’’ and ‘‘workforce readiness program,’’ and narrows ‘‘eligible youth’’ to ages 6–18/19. These definitions control eligibility, allowable activities, and performance measures and make alignment with local boards and credentialing systems central to implementation.
Grant program mechanics
Section 4 directs the Secretary to run a competitive grant program using authorized funds, to support planning and implementation of nationwide, out‑of‑school programs run by community partners. The Secretary must award grants for 3–5 year terms and may set other grant conditions. This creates multi‑year funding stability for grantees but also builds in evaluation points tied to renewals.
Eligible entity threshold: national footprint requirement
To receive a grant an applicant must be a national youth‑serving organization with active chapters/affiliates/subgrantees in at least 35 states and provide out‑of‑school workforce programming. This threshold prioritizes large, scalable networks and effectively excludes locally confined nonprofits from being primary grantees, though the statute allows those local groups to be subgrantees.
Application requirements and accountability elements
Applications must describe equitable geographic distribution, target populations (including underserved communities), program activities and locations, evidence‑based practices, facility accessibility, coordination with other public programs, partnership roles, credential pathways, supplement‑not‑supplant assurances, and a budget. These application elements give reviewers a clear rubric for equity, coordination, and fiscal discipline.
Allowed program activities and work‑based learning
This detailed list authorizes paid/unpaid work experiences (summer employment, pre‑apprenticeships, registered apprenticeships, internships), occupational skill training with priority for credential‑aligned programs, customized training, concurrent education and workforce training, mentoring (minimum 12 months), leadership development, financial literacy, and professional development for educators. The cross‑reference to Perkins and WIOA quality criteria channels DOL review toward programs connected to recognized credentials and local labor market demand.
Evaluation, performance measures, and reporting
Grantees must base programs on data about local need, collect youth‑level data, and measure outcomes aligned with academic programs and youth success indicators (attendance, grades, credential or work‑based learning completion). The Secretary will periodically evaluate grantees, use results to refine measures and determine renewals, and must publicly report findings to Congress—creating accountability but also imposing data collection and privacy tasks for grantees.
Authorization of appropriations
The bill authorizes $100 million per year for FY2026–2030. That authorization sets the program’s scale but does not guarantee appropriation; it’s the baseline Congress would need to fund, and it frames expectations for how many national grantees and local subgrants the program could support.
WIOA amendments: youth councils reestablished
This section inserts a youth council requirement into WIOA as a formal subgroup of local boards, specifying membership categories (including parents, youth, labor, education, juvenile justice, housing authorities, Job Corps) and duties to advise local boards and incorporate youth recommendations into planning and reporting. The change formalizes youth representation in local workforce governance.
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Explore Employment in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Eligible youth from underserved communities — programs prioritize geographic equity and populations with employment disparities, increasing access to career exposure, paid work experiences, and credential pathways earlier in the lifecycle.
- Community‑based organizations and local providers that win subgrants — they gain funding, employer connections, and access to national program models and training resources delivered through larger grantees.
- Employers and industry/sector partnerships — the law creates a pipeline for work‑based learning and customized training aligned to local in‑demand occupations, lowering recruitment and training friction for entry‑level roles.
- National youth‑serving organizations — organizations with existing multistate reach can scale programs, standardize curricula, and access multi‑year federal funding to expand out‑of‑school offerings.
- Local workforce boards and education partners — formal youth councils and required coordination create clearer channels for integrating youth programming into local planning and reporting.
Who Bears the Cost
- Department of Labor — program administration, oversight, periodic evaluations, and public reporting create staffing and IT burdens at DOL without an appropriations guarantee beyond authorization.
- Smaller local nonprofits not meeting the 35‑state threshold — they face barriers to being lead grantees and may depend on competitive subgranting from national organizations, potentially limiting autonomy.
- Local educational agencies and workforce boards — added coordination, data sharing, and incorporating youth council recommendations impose staff time and may require new processes or systems.
- Employers providing paid placements — businesses that partner for internships, apprenticeships, or on‑the‑job training carry recruitment, supervision, and wage costs, and may face compliance requirements tied to program standards.
- Grantees — national organizations will need to build or upgrade data systems, performance measurement, and evidence‑based programming to meet application and evaluation requirements, increasing administrative costs.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is scale versus local fit: the bill funds national organizations to achieve broad reach and employer alignment, which supports measurable, credential‑focused pathways, but that same design risks excluding or subordinating locally rooted providers and community‑specific approaches that may better serve certain youth populations or address place‑based needs.
The bill concentrates primary awards on national organizations with a 35‑state footprint. That design accelerates scale and consistency but risks sidelining high‑quality local providers that lack a national network.
The statute allows subgrants, but those relationships change power dynamics: local implementers may trade autonomy for funding, and performance metrics set by national grantees or federal guidance could drive uniform practices that don’t fit every community.
The bill also pushes early intervention by adapting WIOA’s ‘‘eligible youth’’ definition to include children as young as 6. Translating workforce readiness into developmentally appropriate activities for younger children raises curricular, legal, and privacy concerns: what data are collected about minors, how outcomes are defined for elementary‑age children, and how school priorities (academic instruction time, child welfare rules) are protected.
Finally, the authorization level ($100M/year) sets program expectations but requires appropriations; if Congress funds less, multi‑year commitments to grantees and subgrantees could create continuity problems or force program downscaling.
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