Job Corps Scholars Program Partnership - Summary.pdf

JOB CORPS SCHOLARS PROGRAM PARTNERSHIP: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL, or the Department, or we), will announce the availability of approximately $23,738,000 in grant funds authorized by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, Section 156 (a) (29 U.S.C.

3193(a)) and Section 189(c) (29 U.S.C._3249(c)) for Job Corps Scholars Program Partnership.

Under this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), DOL will competitively award grants to accredited, two-year, public community colleges; accredited, public two- and four-year historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs); and accredited tribally controlled colleges and universities (TCCUs) as part of a “Job Corps Scholars Program” demonstration project.

Grantees must enroll Job Corps eligible youth and provide those enrolled with intensive counseling services to support and facilitate each student’s employment and career success.

DOL expects grantees to provide these services throughout each student’s participation in the 12-month career technical training component of the Job Corps Scholars Program and the up to 12-month employment placement period following separation from the program. Grantees may also fund developmental coursework where necessary for student entry into the technical training component. The time necessary to complete such coursework does not count against the 12 months allotted for the career technical training component. Separation is defined, for the purpose of the demonstration project, as the successful completion and exit from the career technical training. All counseling should encompass activities that aim to ensure each student’s employment success.

DOL expects to serve 1,600 students through the award of approximately twenty (20) grants to accredited, two-year, public community colleges; accredited, public, two- and four-year HBCUs;

and accredited, two- and four-year TCCUs. These students must be new enrollees, that is, not previously admitted or currently attending classes at the community college, HBCU, or TCCU.

Transfer students are not considered new enrollees for the purpose of this program. The grant period of performance for this FOA is 39 months and the maximum amount of each grant is $1,186,900. First year costs are estimated at $529,700, second year costs are estimated at $572,200, and year three costs are $85,000.

Grantees must use the grant funds to pay for the tuition and fees of approximately eighty (80) Job Corps eligible youth entering the program in two separate groups or cohorts of 40. Tuition is the cost associated with taking each course; it is typically calculated per unit or credit hour.

Tuition associated with developmental education coursework that a student requires to enter the technical training component is eligible for funding under this program.

Grantees must use grant funds to hire at least two (2) personal and career counselors, at least two

(2) employment counselors, and provide other supportive services and materials to the students in the demonstration project. Examples of expenditures for allowable supportive services and materials are below:

laboratory and workshop fees associated with the career technical training/learning activities;

classroom equipment, supplies, and materials (e.g., books and school supplies) personal to the student;

student activity fees;

parking decals and fees;

transportation costs to and from home during the up to 12 months of technical training period and the up to 12 months of employment counseling portion of the program;

meal or food vouchers for the technical training and employment counseling portions of the program; and any other costs included in the program’s cost of attendance, such as those in Section 472 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002).

Grantee institutions have the flexibility to enroll more than 40 Job Corps Scholars per cohort.

However, grantees must maintain the 20 students to one counselor ratio established by the grant and additional Job Corps Scholars grant funds will not be available. Job Corps Scholars participants may receive other funding, including Pell grants and other federal grant aid that may cover some or all of the tuition and fees. After applying other sources of aid, grantees must ensure they use Job Corps Scholars grant funds to cover any remaining tuition and fees. If a grantee has grant funds available after covering tuition and fees for its participants and hiring the four counselors described above, it may use remaining grant funds to enroll additional participants (provided tuition and fees are fully covered), hire additional counselors, or cover additional supportive services and materials from the list above.

Job Corps Scholars Program students must meet the grantee’s existing admissions standards to participate in the program. Job Corps’ student code of conduct and disciplinary policies do not apply to the students in the Job Corps Scholars Program. However, students in the Job Corps Scholars Program must abide by all applicable student codes of conduct and are subject to the disciplinary policies of their grantee community college, HBCU, or TCCU. A Job Corps Scholars Program student’s withdrawal, dismissal, or other termination of enrollment in the community college, HBCU, or TCCU will result in the student’s termination from the Job Corps Scholars Program.

The length of any certificate program must not exceed 12 months if it is to be used for the Job Corps Scholars Program. However, grantees are not required to create new or modify their existing technical training certificate programs. Participants may be allowed more than 12 months to complete the training if the additional time is necessary to complete required developmental education coursework. The entire combined period of technical skills instruction and employment counseling/placement portions of the demonstration project must not exceed 24 months.

Job Corps Scholars successfully completing the up to 12-month training component of the program must have earned a technical training certification and academic credit, if academic credit is incorporated into the certification coursework. These credits must be transferrable to another degree program at the school or to another accredited two- or four-year academic institution should the student decide to continue his or her education in lieu of immediately entering into an apprenticeship or pursuing other employment. Grantees must provide Job Corps Scholars separating from the training component, and wanting to enter into the workforce but are not yet “job attached,” with up to 12 months of employment counseling as a part of the program.

In addition to promoting being “job attached,” these grants support work-based learning solutions for industry and sustainable career pathways for the workforce by incorporating apprenticeships into offered employment counseling and placement.

Grantees cannot use grant funds to provide grantee staff with training and counseling of any type, or to subsidize the career technical training and personal counseling of non-Job Corps Scholars.

DOL is committed to producing strong evidence on the effectiveness of its grant programs and full participation in any evaluation initiated by the Department is a condition of all grant awards.

This notice of intent for a future funding opportunity is available for public comment for a period of 60 days from May 3, 2019 to July 3, 2019. Comments must be submitted via email to JobCorpsScholars@dol.gov.