GRANTS FOR NATIONAL WORKFORCE LITERACY STRATEGIES.

SEC. 202. GRANTS FOR NATIONAL WORKFORCE LITERACY STRATEGIES. Section 371 of the Adult Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1211) is amended— (1) in subsection (a)— (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting after “Secretary” the following: “, in consultation with the Secretary of Labor and the Administrator of the Small Business Administration,”; (B) in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2)— (i) by striking “and” and inserting a comma; and 105 STAT. 343 (ii) by inserting after “local educational agencies” the following: “, and other entities described in paragraph (1) that receive grants under this subsection”; and (C) by adding at the end the following: “(5) In awarding grants under this section, the Secretary shall give priority to applications from partnerships that include small businesses. “(6) The Secretary is authorized to award grants under this section for a period not to exceed 3 years.”; (2) in subsection (b)— (A) in paragraph (1), by striking “subsection (c)” and inserting “subsection (e)”; (B) in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2)— (i) by striking “and” the first place it appears and inserting a comma; and (ii) by inserting after “local educational agencies” the following: “, and other entities described in paragraph (1) that receive grants under this subsection”; and (C) in paragraph (7), by amending subparagraph (B) to read as follows: “(B) From the sum appropriated for each fiscal year under subsection (c) for any fiscal year in which appropriations equal or exceed $50,000,000, the Secretary shall allot to each State (as defined in section 312(7)) an amount proportionate to the amount such State receives under section 313.”; (3) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (e); (4) by inserting after subsection (b) the following: “(c) Grant for National Workforce Literacy Strategies.— (1) In any fiscal year in which amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization contained in subsection (e) equal or exceed $25,000,000, the Secretary shall reserve not more than $5,000,000 to establish a program of grants to facilitate the design and implementation of national strategies to assist unions, unions in collaboration with programs eligible for assistance under this Act and businesses, and small- and medium-sized businesses to effectively provide literacy and basic skills training to workers. “(2) Grants awarded under this subsection shall pay the Federal share of the cost of programs to establish large-scale national strategies in workforce literacy, which may include the following activities: “(A) Basic skills training that is— “(i) cost-effective; “(ii) needed by employees; and “(iii) required by employers to establish a trainable workforce that can take advantage of further job specific training and advance the productivity of the labor force on an individual, industry, or national level. “(B) Specific program offerings, which may include— “(i) English as a second language instruction; “(ii) communications skill building; “(iii) interpersonal skill building; “(iv) reading and writing skill building; and “(v) computation and problem solving. “(C) Appropriate assessments of the literacy and basic skills needs of individual workers and the skill levels required by business. 105 STAT. 344 “(D) Cooperative arrangements with other organizations involved in providing literacy and basic skills training, including adult education organizations, vocational education organizations, community and junior colleges, community-based organizations, State level agencies, and private industry councils. “(E) The establishment as appropriate of technology-based learning environments, such as computer-based learning centers. “(3) Any partnership described in subsection (a)(1) that desires to receive a grant under this subsection shall submit a proposal to the Secretary. The proposal shall contain a plan specifying a strategy for designing and implementing workforce literacy and basic skills training for workers, and justifying the national, statewide, or industry-wide importance of this strategy. The proposal shall include— “(A) a demonstration of need for literacy and basic skills training; “(B) a description of the business or industry for which the strategy is to be established; “(C) a statement of specific, measurable goals and participant outcomes; “(D) a strategy for achieving the goals, including a description of the process to identify literacy and basic skills required by employers and the skills of individual workers, and a description of the specific services to be provided; and “(E) a description of the costs of the activities to be undertaken. “(4) The Secretary shall develop a formal process for the submission of proposals and publish an announcement in the Federal Register with respect to that process and the availability of grants under this subsection. “(5) The Federal share of the cost of a program assisted under this subsection shall not exceed 70 percent. “(6) The Secretary shall give priority for grants under this subsection to proposals to carry out activities described in paragraph (2)(D). “(7) In awarding grants under this subsection, the Secretary may consider geographic factors, such as rural and urban areas and national distribution. “(8) Of the grants awarded under this subsection each year, not less than 5 shall each be for an amount that is not less than $500,000. “(d) Evaluation.— The Secretary shall reserve not more than 2 percent of any amount appropriated pursuant to the authorization contained in subsection (e) for the purpose of carrying out an independent evaluation of the effectiveness of programs assisted under this section in improving the literacy and basic skills of workers and the productivity of employees, including potential for the replicability or adaption of such programs.”; and (5) in subsection (e) (as redesignated by paragraph (3)) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the following: “(1) There are authorized to be appropriated for purposes of carrying out this section such sums as may be necessary for the fiscal year 1991, $60,000,000 for the fiscal year 1992, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 1993, 1994, and 1995.”.