Supporting Statement - FOA for Youth Adult Reentry Partnership

Funding Opportunity Announcement

Young Adult Reentry Partnership

Supplemental Justification

Supplemental Supporting Statement A: Justification

This request seeks OMB approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act for the unique information collection requirements in the “Young Adult Reentry Partnership” Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). The Department will announce the availability of approximately $25,000,000 in grant funds authorized by the Department of Labor Appropriations Act, 2019 (Pub. L. 115-245), for ex-offender activities and under Section 169 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

DOL will competitively award grants to community- or faith-based intermediary organizations (organizations that have sub-grantees, an affiliate network, or offices in at least three communities and across at least two states, and that propose to serve at least three communities across at least two states for this project) with IRS 501(c)(3) non-profit status, including women’s, and minority organizations, and post-secondary education institutions; and any Indian and Native American entity eligible for grants under section 166 of WIOA. The purpose of this program is to partner organizations that provide reentry services with community colleges to provide education and training services to improve the employment outcomes for young adults involved in the criminal justice system.

These projects ensure that young adults transitioning from the criminal justice system are prepared to meet the needs of their local labor markets with the skills required by employers. Applicants must establish a partnership with the criminal justice system. Applicants must also establish partnerships through their sub-grantees with community colleges that have designed their courses and career pathways/guided pathways program curricula to ensure relevance to the needs of local industries and jobs. Grants under this FOA must provide occupational training to eligible participants facilitated by a community college in locally in-demand industries, including but not limited to healthcare, information technology, and energy. Applicants must ensure that sub-grantees consult with the state and local workforce boards and verify that the selected industry sector and high-growth jobs offer employment opportunities in their local communities. Applicants must also identify the specific career pathways/occupations within that sector for which participants will receive training. Applicants must ensure that occupational training provided has no state or local licensing regulations that restrict individuals with criminal records from obtaining licenses in that career.

DOL expects to award approximately six (6) grants. These grant programs will serve young adults ages 18-24 years old who are currently or have previously been involved with the juvenile or adult justice system or are high school dropouts; are low-income as defined under WIOA Section 3(36); are eligible to enroll in community college; either reside in or are returning to the targeted geographic area; and are legally eligible to work in the United States

Grantees have the discretion to enroll individuals convicted of violent offenses or sexual offenses and those assessed as high-risk of either offense. Grantees that choose to serve these populations must conduct a rigorous risk assessment of criminogenic need (i.e., causing or likely to cause criminal behavior). In all cases, the grantee must have a clear and consistent written enrollment policy that addresses program enrollment. Grantees will be required to submit their written enrollment policies if awarded a grant.

Applications will include the following information collections: 1) Form SF-424 “Application for Federal Assistance,” separately cleared under OMB control number 4040-0004, 2) Project Budget, 3) Project Narrative, and 4) Attachments to the Project Narrative.

Electronic availability:

This grant solicitation is available on the grants.gov Web site. Based on past DOL experience, the Department anticipates that at least 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 FOA implicates no special circumstances.

Burden:

Based on past experience, the DOL expects to receive approximately 30 applications from an equal number of respondents.  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.

30 applications x 20 hours = 600 hours.

The DOL uses the average hourly earnings in the professional and business services industry of $34.17 per hour to monetize this burden.  See The Employment Situation—January 2020, DOL, Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf at page 37.

600 hours x $34.17 = $20,502

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: 30 respondents, 30 responses, 600 hours, $0 other cost burden.

Supplemental Supporting Statement B: Statistical Methods

This information collection does not employ statistical methods.

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