§ 12656 — Urban Youth Corps

(a) The Congress finds the following: (1) The rehabilitation, reclamation, and beautification of urban public housing, recreational sites, youth and senior centers, and public roads and public works facilities through the efforts of young people in the United States in an Urban Youth Corps can benefit these youths, while also benefiting their communities, by— (A) providing them with education and work opportunities; (B) furthering their understanding and appreciation of the challenges faced by individuals residing in urban communities; and (C) providing them with a means to pay for higher education or to repay indebtedness they have incurred to obtain higher education. (2) A significant number of housing units for low-income individuals in urban areas has become substandard and unsafe and the deterioration of urban roadways, mass transit systems, and transportation facilities in the United States have contributed to the blight encountered in many cities in the United States. (3) As a result, urban housing, public works, and transportation resources are in need of labor intensive rehabilitation, reclamation, and beautification work that has been neglected in the past and cannot be adequately carried out by Federal, State, and local government at existing personnel levels. (4) Urban youth corps have established a good record of rehabilitating, reclaiming, and beautifying these kinds of resources in a cost-efficient manner, especially when they have worked in partnership with government housing, public works, and transportation authorities and agencies. (b) It is the purpose of this section— (1) to perform, in a cost-effective manner, appropriate service projects to rehabilitate, reclaim, beautify, and improve public housing and public works and transportation facilities and resources in urban areas suffering from high rates of poverty where work will not be performed by existing employees; (2) to assist government housing, public works, and transportation authorities and agencies; (3) to expose young people in the United States to public service while furthering their understanding and appreciation of their community; (4) to expand educational opportunity for individuals who participate in the Urban Youth Corps established by this section by providing them with an increased ability to pursue postsecondary education or job training; and (5) to stimulate interest among young people in the United States in lifelong service to their communities and the United States. (c) For purposes of this section: (1) The term “appropriate service project” means any project for the rehabilitation, reclamation, or beautification of urban public housing and public works and transportation resources or facilities. (2) The term “Corps” and “Urban Youth Corps” mean the Urban Youth Corps established under subsection (d)(1). (3) The term “qualified urban youth corps” means any program established by a State or local government or by a nonprofit organization that— (A) is capable of offering meaningful, full-time, productive work for individuals between the ages of 16 and 25, inclusive, in an urban or public works or transportation setting; (B) gives participants a mix of work experience, basic and life skills, education, training, and support services; and (C) provides participants with the opportunity to develop citizenship values and skills through service to their communities and the United States. (4) The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development or the Secretary of Transportation. (5) The term “State” means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands of the United States, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. (1) There is hereby established in the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Transportation an Urban Youth Corps. The Corps shall consist of individuals between the ages of 16 and 25, inclusive, who are enrolled as participants in the Corps by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the Secretary of Transportation. To be eligible for enrollment in the Corps, an individual shall satisfy the criteria specified in section 139(b) of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 [42 U.S.C. 12593(b)]. The Secretaries may enroll such individuals in the Corps without regard to the civil service and classification laws, rules, or regulations of the United States. The Secretaries may establish a preference for the enrollment in the Corps of individuals who are economically, physically, or educationally disadvantaged. (2) The Secretaries are authorized to enter into contracts and cooperative agreements with any qualified urban youth corps to perform appropriate service projects described in paragraph (3). As part of the Urban Youth Corps established in the Department of Transportation, the Secretary of Transportation may make grants to States (and through States to local governments) for the purpose of establishing, operating, or supporting qualified urban youth corps that will perform appropriate service projects relating to transportation resources or facilities. (3) The Secretaries may each utilize the Corps or any qualified urban youth corps to carry out appropriate service projects that the Secretary involved is authorized to carry out under other authority of law involving public housing projects or public works resources or facilities. (4) In selecting an appropriate service project to be carried out under this section, the Secretaries shall give a preference to those projects which— (A) will provide long-term benefits to the public; (B) will instill in the participant a work ethic and a sense of public service; (C) will be labor intensive; (D) can be planned and initiated promptly; and (E) will provide academic, experiential, or community education opportunities. (5) Each appropriate service project carried out under this section in any public housing project or public works resource or facility shall be consistent with the provisions of law and policies relating to the management and administration of such projects, facilities, or resources, with all other applicable provisions of law, and with all management, operational, and other plans and documents which govern the administration of such projects, facilities, or resources. (e) of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 for participants in a national service program assisted under subtitle C of title I of such Act [42 U.S.C. 12571 et seq.]. (f) Each participant in the Urban Youth Corps shall agree to participate in the Corps for a term of service established by the Secretary involved, consistent with the terms of service required under section 139(b) of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 [42 U.S.C. 12593(b)] for participants in a national service program assisted under subtitle C of title I of such Act [42 U.S.C. 12571 et seq.]. (1) Each participant in the Urban Youth Corps shall be eligible for a national service educational award in the manner prescribed in subtitle D of title I of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 [42 U.S.C. 12601 et seq.] if such participant complies with such requirements as may be established under this subtitle by the Secretary involved respecting eligibility for the award. The period during which the award may be used, the purposes for which the award may be used, and the amount of the award shall be determined as provided under such subtitle. (2) For purposes of section 1078 of title 20, in the case of borrowers who are participants in the Urban Youth Corps, upon written request, a lender shall grant a borrower forbearance on such terms as are otherwise consistent with the regulations of the Secretary of Education, during periods in which the borrower is serving as such a participant and eligible for a national service educational award under paragraph (1). (h) The nondisplacement requirements of section 177 of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 [42 U.S.C. 12637] shall be applicable to all activities carried out by the Urban Youth Corps and to all activities carried out under this section by a qualified urban youth corps. (1) The Secretaries are each authorized to pay not more than 75 percent of the costs of any appropriate service project carried out pursuant to this section by a qualified urban youth corps. The remaining 25 percent of the costs of such a project may be provided from nonfederal sources in the form of funds, services, facilities, materials, equipment, or any combination of the foregoing. (2) The Secretaries are each authorized to accept donations of funds, services, facilities, materials, or equipment for the purposes of operating the Urban Youth Corps and carrying out appropriate service projects by the Corps. However, nothing in this section shall be construed to require any cost sharing for any project carried out directly by the Corps. (3) In order to carry out the Urban Youth Corps or to support qualified urban youth corps under this section, the Secretaries shall be eligible to apply for and receive assistance under section 121(b) of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 [42 U.S.C. 12571(b)].