grants and contracts for volunteer service projects

grants and contracts for volunteer service projects Sec. 211. (a) The Director is authorized to make grants to or contracts with public and nonprofit private agencies and organizations to pay part or all of the cost of development and operation of projects (including direct payments to volunteers serving under this part) designed for the purpose of providing opportunities for low-income persons aged sixty or over to serve as volunteers to provide supportive person-to-person services in health, education, welfare, and related settings to children having exceptional needs, including services by volunteers serving as “foster grandparents” to children receiving care in hospitals, homes for dependent and neglected children, or other establishments providing care for children with special needs. The Director may approve assistance in excess of 90 per centum of the costs of the development and operation of such projects only if he determines, in accordance with regulations he shall prescribe establishing objective criteria, that such action is required in furtherance of the purpose of this section. Provision for such assistance shall be effective as of September 19, 1972. In the case of any project with respect to which, prior to such date, a grant or contract has been made under section 611(a) of the Older Americans Act of 1965, as amended (42 U.S.C. 3044b) or with respect to any project under the Foster Grandparent program in effect prior to September 17, 1969, contributions in cash or in kind from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, toward the cost of the project may be counted as part of the cost thereof which is met from non-Federal sources. (b) The Director is also authorized to make grants or contracts to carry out the purpose described in subsection (a) of this section in the case of persons (other than children) having exceptional needs, including services by volunteers serving as “senior health aides” to work with persons receiving home health care, nursing care, or meals on wheels or other nutritional services, and as “senior companions” to persons having developmental disabilities or other special needs for companionship.