Deadline: 21-Jan-22
The Employment and Training Administration is pleased to launch the YouthBuild Program for NGOs to provide a pre-apprenticeship program model that encompasses education, occupational skills training, leadership development, and high-quality post-program placement opportunities to opportunity youth.
YouthBuild is a community-based alternative education program for youth between the ages of 16 and 24 who left high school prior to graduation that also have other risk factors, including being an adjudicated youth, youth aging out of foster care, youth with disabilities, migrant farmworker youth, youth experiencing housing instability, and other disadvantaged youth populations.
The YouthBuild program simultaneously addresses multiple core issues important to youth in low-income communities: affordable housing, leadership development, education, and employment opportunities in in-demand industries and apprenticeship pathways.
YouthBuild programs serve as the connection point to vital services for participants. Key aspects of the YouthBuild service delivery model include meaningful partnership and collaboration with the public workforce development system, education and human services systems, and labor and industry partners. DOL expects applicants funded through this solicitation to have well-established partnerships in place prior to grant award.
The YouthBuild model balances project-based academic learning and occupational skills training to prepare opportunity youth for career placement. The academic component assists youth who are often significantly behind in basic skill development in obtaining a high school diploma or state high school equivalency credential. The occupational skills training component prepares opportunity youth for apprenticeship and other career pathways and/or further education or training. It also supports the goal of increasing affordable housing within communities by teaching youth construction skills learned by building or significantly renovating homes for sale or rent to low- income families or transitional housing for homeless families or individuals.
Elements
Pre-apprenticeship means a program designed to prepare individuals to enter and succeed in an apprenticeship program registered and includes the following elements:
- Training and curriculum that aligns with the skill needs of employers in the economy of the state or region involved;
- Access to educational and career counseling and other supportive services, directly or indirectly;
- Hands-on, meaningful learning activities that are connected to education and training activities, such as exploring career options, and understanding how the skills acquired through coursework can be applied toward a future career;
- Opportunities to attain at least one industry-recognized credential; and
- A partnership with one or more registered apprenticeship program that assists in placing individuals who complete the pre-apprenticeship program in a registered apprenticeship program.
Funding Information
- They expect availability of approximately $90 million to fund approximately 75 grants. Applicants may apply for a grant amount ranging from $700,000 to a ceiling amount of $1.5 million.
- The period of performance is 40 months with an anticipated start date of 5/1/2022.
Outcomes
YouthBuild grantees awarded under this FOA must track and report on the six WIOA primary indicators of performance for youth. These indicators include:
- Education and Employment Rate – Second Quarter After Exit;
- Education and Employment Rate – Fourth Quarter After Exit;
- Median Earnings – Second Quarter After Exit;
- Credential Attainment;
- Measurable Skill Gains; and
- Effectiveness in Serving Employers
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible applicants for these grants are public or private non-profit agencies. These organizations include rural, urban, or Native American agencies that have previously served disadvantaged youth in a YouthBuild or other similar program. These agencies or organizations may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Community and faith-based organizations including those with IRS 501(c)(3) non-profit status;
- An entity carrying out activities under WIOA, such as a local workforce development board or one-stop career center partner program;
- Labor unions, labor-management partnerships, a central labor council, other labor council, state conference of a union, or state labor federation, or worker centers;
- Educational institutions, including a local school board, public school district, or community college;
- A community action agency;
- A state or local housing development agency;
- Any Indian and Native American entity eligible for grants, including federally and other than federally-recognized Tribes, Native American non- profit organizations, and Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native organizations;
- A community development corporation;
- A state or local youth service conservation corps; and
- Any other public or private non-profit entity that is eligible to provide education or employment training under a federal program and can meet the required elements of the grant.
- Entities ineligible to apply to this FOA include grantees (based on their unique Employer Identification Number) who received funding from the FY 2020 YouthBuild competition, funded through 10/31/2024. Additionally, DOL will award only one grant to an individual organization. An individual organization must have a unique Employer Identification Number, and it must not administer its program services at the same location as any other YouthBuild grantee.
- Among eligible applicants, the applicant agency or organization must also maintain a local presence in any identified target communities they propose to serve.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=336698
