Face Forward 2–Intermediary and Community Solicitation for Grant Applications Supplemental Supporting Statement

Generic Solicitation for Grant Applications

Face Forward 2–Intermediary and Community Solicitation for Grant Applications Justification

Supplemental Supporting Statement A: Justification

Abstract:

This request seeks OMB approval for the unique information collections contained in the Face Forward 2–Intermediary and Community (FF2IC) Solicitation for Grant Applications (SGA). Section 171, Pilot and Demonstration Projects, of WIA (as amended), Public Law 105-220; 29 U.S.C. 2916 authorizes this program. The Employment and Training Administration (ETA),

U.S. Department of Labor will announce the availability of approximately $44 million in funds for the Face Forward 2–Intermediary and Community grant program. ETA will award these grants through a competitive process.

FF2IC grants will offer organizations the opportunity to develop programs that address the employment barriers of court involved youth while helping these youth develop the employment skills needed to obtain good jobs. These grants will help participants move forward into the future by combining the most promising workforce and juvenile justice strategies available. These grants will systematically improve the workforce outcomes of court-involved youth who will obtain industry-recognized credentials that prepare them for jobs in demand industries using career pathways.

The core project components for these grants include: case management, mentoring, educational interventions, service-learning, occupational training in demand industries which lead to industry-recognized credentials, workforce activities that lead to employment, follow-up activities, and expungement and diversion. The expungement and diversion components will be provided through the juvenile justice system (JJS) and non-profit legal services organizations.

Grantees or sub-grantees of intermediary organizations must collaborate with the local components of the JJS to ensure court-involved youth receive referrals into programs as a means of diverting the youth’s juvenile charge(s), and collaborate with non-profit legal services organizations to provide legal services that assist program participants with expungement.

The ETA plans to award four intermediary organization grants of $5 million each and approximately 16 community organization grants of up to $1.5 million each, totaling approximately $44 million, to provide services to court-involved youth between the ages of 14 to 24 that have been involved in the JJS and never convicted in the adult criminal system. Applicants may only submit one application in response to this solicitation. Applicants must choose between submitting an intermediary or community grant application.

Electronic availability:

This grant solicitation is available on the grants.gov Web site. Based on past DOL experience, the Department anticipates 80 percent of responses will be submitted electronically.

Small Entities:

This information collection will not have a significant impact on a substantial number of small entities.

Assurances of confidentiality:

These grant solicitations do not offer applicants assurances of confidentiality.

Special circumstances:

This SGA implicates no special circumstances.

Burden:

Based on past experience, the DOL expects to receive approximately 150 applications. The ETA estimates public reporting burden for the information collection to average 20 hours per response for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining needed data, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.

150 applications x 20 hours = 3,000 hours.

The DOL has increased the October 2013, average hourly earnings in the professional and business services industry of $30.38 by 40 percent (total $42.53) to monetize this burden. See The Employment Situation—December 2013, DOL, Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_01102014.pdf at 35.

3,000 hours x $42.53 = $127,590.

The DOL associates no other burden costs with this information collection. In addition to the application, each grantee will be required to submit quarterly financial, performance, and narrative reports to the ETA. Those information collection requirements will be cleared under a separate control number.

Total burden: 150 respondents, 150 responses, 3,000 hours, $0 other cost burden.

Supplemental Supporting Statement B: Statistical Methods

This information collection does not employ statistical methods.

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