work and training programs

work and training programs Sec. 102. Part B of title I of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 is amended to read as follows: 81 Stat. 683 “Part B— Work and Training for Youth and Adults “statement of purpose “Sec. 120. The purpose of this part is to provide useful work and training opportunities, together with related services and assistance, that will assist low-income youths to continue or resume their education, and to help unemployed or low-income persons, both young and adult, to obtain and hold regular competitive employment, with maximum opportunities for local initiative in developing programs which respond to local needs and problems, and with emphasis upon a comprehensive approach which includes programs using both public and private resources to overcome the complex problems of the most severely disadvantaged in urban and rural areas having high concentrations or proportions of unemployment, underemployment, and low income. “community program areas and comprehensive work and training programs “Sec. 121. (a) The Director shall designate or recognize community program areas for the purpose of planning and conducting comprehensive community work and training programs. “(b) For the purpose of this part, a community may be a city, county, multicity, or multicounty unit, an Indian reservation, or a neighborhood or other area (irrespective of boundaries or political subdivisions) which provides a suitable organizational base and possesses the commonality of interest needed for a comprehensive work and training program. The Director shall consult with the heads of other Federal agencies responsible for programs relating to community action, manpower services, physical and economic development, housing, education, health, and other community services to encourage the establishment of coterminous or complementary boundaries for planning purposes among those programs and comprehensive work and training programs assisted under this part. “(c) A comprehensive work and training program must seek to provide participants an unbroken sequence of services which will enable them to obtain and hold employment. It shall provide a systematic approach to planning and implementation including the linkage of relevant component programs authorized by this Act with one another and with other appropriate public and private programs and activities. It shall also provide for evaluation. “prime sponsors and delegate agencies “Sec. 122. (a) For each community program area, the Director shall recognize a public or private nonprofit agency which shall serve as the prime sponsor to receive funds under section 123 (except as otherwise provided in section 123(c)). This agency must be capable of planning, administering, coordinating, and evaluating a comprehensive work and training program. “(b) The prime sponsor shall provide for participation of employers and labor organizations in the planning and conduct of the comprehensive work and training programs. “(c) The prime sponsor shall be encouraged to make use of public and private organizations as delegate agencies to carry out components of the comprehensive work and training program, including without 81 Stat. 684limitation agencies governed with the participation of the poor and other residents of the neighborhoods or rural areas served, educational institutions, the public employment service, the public welfare agency, other health and welfare agencies, private training institutions, and other capable public and private organizations. “(d) The prime sponsor and delegate agencies shall provide for participation of residents of the area and members of the groups served in the planning, conduct, and evaluation of the comprehensive work and training program and its components. Such persons shall be provided maximum employment opportunity in the conduct of component programs, including opportunity for further occupational training and career advancement. “(e) The Director shall prescribe regulations to assure that programs under this part have adequate internal administrative controls, accounting requirements, personnel standards, evaluation procedures, and other policies as may be necessary to promote the effective use of funds. “eligible activities “Sec. 123. (a) The Director may provide financial assistance in urban and rural areas for comprehensive work and training programs or components of such programs, including the following: “(1) programs to provide part-time employment, on-the-job training, and useful work experience for students from low-income families who are in the ninth through twelfth grades of school (or are of an age equivalent to that of students in such grades) and who are in need of the earnings to permit them to resume or maintain attendance in school; “(2) programs to provide unemployed, underemployed, or low-income persons (aged sixteen and over) with useful work and training (which must include sufficient basic education and institutional or on-the-job training) designed to assist those persons to develop their maximum occupational potential and to obtain regular competitive employment; “(3) special programs which involve work activities directed to the needs of those chronically unemployed poor who have poor employment prospects and are unable, because of age, lack of employment opportunity, or otherwise, to secure appropriate employment or training assistance under other programs, and which, in addition to other services provided, will enable such persons to participate in projects for the betterment or beautification of the community or area served by the. program, including without limitation activities which will contribute to the management, conservation, or development of natural resources, recreational areas, Federal, State, and local government parks, highways, and other lands; “(4) special programs which provide unemployed or low-income persons with jobs leading to career opportunities, including new types of careers, in programs designed to improve the physical, social, economic, or cultural condition of the community or area served in fields including without limitation health, education, welfare, neighborhood redevelopment, and public safety, which provide maximum prospects for advancement and continued employment without Federal assistance, which give promise of contributing to the broader adoption of new methods of structuring jobs and new methods of providing job ladder opportunities, and which provide opportunities for further occupational training to facilitate career advancement; “(5) special programs which concentrate work and training resources in urban and rural areas having large concentrations or 81 Stat. 685proportions of low-income, unemployed persons, and within those rural areas having substantial outmigration to urban areas, which are appropriately focused to assure that work and training opportunities are extended to the most severely disadvantaged persons who can reasonably be expected to benefit from such opportunities, and which are supported by specific commitments of cooperation from private and public employers; “(6) supportive and follow-up services to supplement work and training programs under this or other Acts including health services, counseling, day care for children, transportation assistance, and other special services necessary to assist individuals to achieve success in work and training programs and in employment ; “(7) employment centers and mobile employment service units to provide recruitment, counseling, and placement services, conveniently located in urban neighborhoods and rural areas and easily accessible to the most disadvantaged; “(8) programs to provide incentives to private employers, other than nonprofit organizations, to train or employ unemployed or low-income persons, including arrangements by direct contract, reimbursements to employers for a limited period when an employee might not be fully productive, payment for on-the-job counseling and other supportive services, payment of all or part of employer costs of sending recruiters into urban and rural areas of high concentrations or proportions of unemployed or low-income persons, and payments to permit employers to provide employees resident in such areas with transportation to and from work or to reimburse such employees for such transportation: Provided, That in making such reimbursements to employers the Director shall assure that the wages paid any employee shall not be less than the minimum wage which would be applicable to employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 if section 6 of such Act applied to the employee and he was not exempt under section 13 thereof; and “(9) means of planning, administering, coordinating, and evaluating a comprehensive work and training program. “(b) Commencing July 1, 1968, all work and training component programs conducted in a community under this section shall be consolidated into the comprehensive work and training program and financial assistance for such components shall be provided to the prime sponsor unless the Director determines there is a good cause for providing an extension of time, except as otherwise provided by subsection (c). After that date, the work and training components of programs authorized by section 502 of this Act and by section 261 of part E of title II of the Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962 shall to the maximum extent feasible be linked to the comprehensive work and training program, including funding through the prime sponsor where appropriate. “(c) The Director may provide financial assistance to a public agency or private organization other than a prime sponsor to carry out one or more component programs described in subsection (a) when he determines, after soliciting and considering comments of the prime sponsor, if any, that such assistance would enhance program effectiveness or acceptance on the part of persons served and would serve the purposes of this part. In the case or programs under subsection (a) (1) of this section, financial assistance may be provided directly to local or State educational agencies pursuant to agreements between the Director and the Secretary of Labor providing for the operation of such programs under direct grants or contracts. 81 Stat. 686 “special conditions “Sec. 124. (a) The Director shall not provide financial assistance for any program under this part unless he determines, in accordance with such regulations as he may prescribe, that— “(1) no participant will be employed on projects involving political parties, or the construction, operation, or maintenance of so much of any facility as is used or to be used for sectarian instruction or as a place for religious worship; “(2) the program will not result in the displacement of employed workers or impair existing contracts for services, or result in the substitution of Federal for other funds in connection with work that would otherwise be performed; “(3) the rates of pay for time spent in work-training and education, and other conditions of employment, will be appropriate and reasonable in the light of such factors as the type of work, geographical region, and proficiency of the participant; and “(4) the program will, to the maximum extent feasible, contribute to the occupational development or upward mobility of individual participants. “(b) The Director shall terminate financial assistance for any program under this part in any case in which he determines that any person charged, in whole or part, with the responsibility for the administration of the program is a member of the Communist Party. “(c) For programs which provide work and training related to physical improvements, preference shall lie given to those improvements which will be substantially used by low-income persons and families or which will contribute substantially to amenities or facilities in urban or rural areas having high concentrations or proportions of low-income persons and families. “(d) Programs approved under this part shall, to the maximum extent feasible, contribute to the elimination of artificial barriers to employment and occupational advancement. “(e) Projects under this part shall provide for maximum feasible use of resources under other Federal programs for work and training and the resources of the private sector. “program participants “Sec. 125. (a) Participants in programs under this part must be unemployed or low-income persons. The Director, in consultation with the Social Security Administrator, shall establish criteria for low income, taking into consideration family size, urban-rural and farm-nonfarm differences, and other relevant factors. Any individual shall be deemed to be from a low-income family if the family receives cash welfare payments. “(b) Participants must be permanent residents of the United States or of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. “(c) Participants shall not be deemed Federal employees and shall not be subject to the provisions of law relating to Federal employment, including those relating to hours of work, rates of compensation, leave, unemployment compensation, and Federal employment benefits. “elderly “Sec. 126. The Director shall provide that programs under this part shall be designed to deal with the incidence of long-term unemployment among persons fifty-five years and older. In the conduct of such programs, the Director shall encourage the employment of such persons as regular, part-time, and short-term staff in component programs. 81 Stat. 687 “pilot projects “Sec. 127. (a) The Director may provide financial assistance to public or private organizations for pilot projects which are designed to develop new approaches to further the objectives of this part. Such projects may be conducted by public agencies or private organizations. “(b) The Director shall undertake pilot projects designed to encourage the maximum participation of private employers, other than nonprofit organizations, in work and training programs under this part. “(c) Before the Director may approve a pilot project, he shall solicit and consider comments on such project from the prime sponsor, if any, in the community where the project will be undertaken. “technical assistance and training “Sec. 128. The Director may provide (directly or through contracts or other appropriate arrangements) technical assistance to assist in the initiation or effective operation of programs under this part. He may also make arrangements for the training of instructors and other personnel needed to carry out work and training programs under this part and part D of this title. He shall give special consideration to the problems of rural areas. “role of the states “Sec. 129. The Director may provide financial assistance to appropriate State agencies to— “(1) provide technical assistance and training, as authorized by section 128, with particular emphasis upon service to rural areas and for this purpose preference shall be given to the State agency which administers programs assisted by section 231; “(2) assist in coordinating State activities related to this part; “(3) operate work and training programs in communities which have not yet established an acceptable prime sponsor; and “(4) provide work and training opportunities on State projects and in State agencies: Provided, That these opportunities shall be made available to participants in community work and training programs. “equitable distribution of assistance “Sec. 130. Of the sums appropriated or allocated for any fiscal year for programs authorized under this title, the Director shall reserve not to exceed 20 per centum for the purpose of carrying out section 123(a)(5); but not more than 12½ per centum of the funds so reserved for any fiscal year shall be used within any one State. With respect to the remaining funds appropriated or allocated to carry out the provisions of section 123, the Director shall establish criteria designed to achieve an equitable distribution of assistance among the States. In developing those criteria, he shall consider, among other relevant factors, the ratios of population, unemployment, and family income levels. “limitations on federal assistance “Sec. 131. Federal financial assistance to any program or activity carried out pursuant to section 123 of this part shall not exceed 90 per centum of the cost of such program or activity, including costs of administration. The Director may, however, approve assistance in excess of that percentage if he determines, pursuant to regulations 81 Stat. 688establishing objective criteria for such determinations, that this is necessary in furtherance of the purposes of this part. Non-Federal contributions may be in cash or in kind, fairly evaluated, including but not limited to plant, equipment, and services. If in any fiscal year, a community provides non-Federal contributions under this part exceeding its requirements under this section, such excess may be used to meet its requirements for such contributions under section 225(c). “program data and evaluation “Sec. 132. (a) The Director shall provide for the development and implementation of a program data system consistent with similar data systems for other relevant Federal programs. Such data shall lie published periodically. “(b) The Director shall provide for the continuing evaluation of the programs under this part, including their effectiveness in achieving stated goals, their impact on related programs, and their structure and mechanisms for the delivery of services, and he shall arrange for obtaining the opinions of participants about the strengths and weaknesses of the programs. This evaluation shall include comparisons with proper control groups composed of persons who have not participated in such programs, and shall seek to develop comparative data on the costs and benefits of work and training programs authorized by this Act and by other Acts, including the Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962. He may, for this purpose, contract for independent evaluations of such programs or individual projects. The results of such evaluations shall be included in the report required by section 608. “(c) The Director shall develop and publish standards for evaluation of program effectiveness in achieving the objectives of this part. Such standards shall be considered in deciding whether to renew or supplement financial assistance provided by sections 123, 128, and 129.”