I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1414

To provide grants to States to reduce crime and poverty in poor neighborhoods by providing employment opportunities to disadvantaged young

adults.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 5, 1995

Mr. RANGEL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities

A BILL

To provide grants to States to reduce crime and poverty

in poor neighborhoods by providing employment opportunities to disadvantaged young adults.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Empowerment Zone

5 Job Creation Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

7 The purpose of this Act is to reduce crime and pov8 erty in poor neighborhoods by providing employment op9 portunities leading to permanent unsubsidized employ-
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1 ment for disadvantaged young adults in those neighbor2 hoods.

3 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION.

4 The Secretary of Labor (hereafter in this Act referred

5 to as the ‘‘Secretary’’), in consultation with other appro6 priate Federal officials, may provide grants to States for

7 the purpose of establishing and carrying out programs

8 that provide employment opportunities leading to perma9 nent unsubsidized employment for disadvantaged young

10 adults in poor neighborhoods.

11 SEC. 4. APPLICATION.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may provide a

13 grant under this Act to a State only if the State submits

14 to the Secretary an application containing—

15 (1) a plan described in subsection (b); and

16 (2) such other information as the Secretary

17 may reasonably require.

18 (b) PLAN.—A plan described in this subsection is a

19 plan that provides for the establishment of a program for

20 reducing crime and poverty by substantially increasing

21 employment levels of young adults in poor neighborhoods.

22 Such plan shall—

23 (1) describe the private sector, nonprofit, and

24 public sector components of the program, and de25 scribe, to the extent practicable, the nature of the
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1 employment opportunities that will be generated in

2 the neighborhoods;

3 (2) describe the outcomes that will be used to

4 evaluate the success of the program, including re5 ducing crime and substance abuse and increasing

6 employment for young adults;

7 (3) specify the organization that will administer

8 the program;

9 (4) describe the public/private partnership that

10 will promote collaboration between the State and

11 local governments, local job training, education, em12 ployment, and public housing agencies and authori13 ties, local residents, community-based organizations,

14 and nonprofit organizations, and local community

15 policing, gang prevention activities, and juvenile jus16 tice or delinquency preventive initiatives;

17 (5) describe how the public and private sectors

18 will work together to assist young adults to make

19 the transition from subsidized to unsubsidized jobs;

20 and

21 (6) describe the extent of the local commitment

22 of resources to the program, including the commit23 ment of substantial resources by the last year of the

24 program.
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1 SEC. 5. USE OF AMOUNTS.

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may provide a

4 grant under this Act to a State only if the State

5 agrees that it will use all amounts received from

6 such grant to provide for the establishment of a pro7 gram to saturate neighborhoods located in areas de8 scribed in paragraph (2) with employment opportu9 nities with for-profit, nonprofit, and public employ10 ers that are likely to lead to permanent,

11 unsubsidized employment for young adults who have

12 attained the age of 16 but who have not attained the

13 age of 26.

14 (2) AREA DESCRIBED.—An area described in

15 this paragraph is an empowerment zone designated

16 pursuant to part I of subchapter U of chapter 1 of

17 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

18 (b) CONDUCT OF PROGRAM.—In carrying out the

19 program established under subsection (a), the State shall

20 ensure that the following requirements are met:

21 (1) PROVISION OF WAGE SUBSIDIES TO EM22 PLOYERS.—The organization administering the pro23 gram shall provide amounts received from a grant

24 under this Act to employers for the purpose of subsi25 dizing the wages of young adults who are employed

26 by the employer under the program. In providing
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1 such amounts to employers, the organization admin2 istering the program shall—

3 (A) encourage private sector employers to

4 employ individuals with an emphasis on oppor5 tunities that provide advanced or specialized

6 training;

7 (B) require private sector employers, dur8 ing the course of a participant’s subsidized em9 ployment, to gradually increase their funding of

10 that participant’s wages;

11 (C) encourage, if practicable, the provision

12 of a structured and integrated work and learn13 ing experience;

14 (D) encourage assistance to nonprofit em15 ployers and public agencies to employ partici16 pants in projects designed to address commu17 nity needs, such as projects to enhance neigh18 borhood infrastructure, to modernize public

19 housing, and to provide other community serv20 ices;

21 (E) ensure that the duration of all sub22 sidized employment for a participant does not

23 exceed more than 2,080 hours; and

24 (F) require that the subsidized employ25 ment provided to any participant who is still en-
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1 rolled in high school shall not exceed 20 hours

2 per week during the school year.

3 (2) ADDITIONAL SERVICES.—The organization

4 administering the program shall provide additional

5 services (either directly with amounts received from

6 a grant under this Act or through arrangements

7 with other appropriate Federal, State, or local pro8 grams) to facilitate the transition of young adults to

9 permanent unsubsidized employment, including

10 counseling, job development and placement, follow11 up services, and supportive services.

12 (3) RESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOR BY PARTICI13 PANTS.—The organization administering the pro14 gram shall ensure that continued participation in the

15 program by a young adult shall be conditioned on—

16 (A) avoiding crime, including illegal drug

17 use;

18 (B) regular attendance and satisfactory

19 performance at work;

20 (C) paying child support when paternity

21 has been established and the participant has an

22 income; and

23 (D) in-school young adults remaining in

24 school until graduation.
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1 SEC. 6. FEDERAL RESPONSIBILITIES.

2 (a) PERFORMANCE MEASURES.—The Secretary shall

3 establish a system of performance measures for assessing

4 programs established from amounts received from grants

5 under this Act.

6 (b) EVALUATION.—

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall conduct

8 a rigorous national evaluation of such programs that

9 will track and assess the effectiveness of those pro10 grams, and include an evaluation to the extent to

11 which such programs reduced crime and substance

12 abuse and increased employment and earnings. The

13 evaluation may include cost-benefit analyses and

14 shall utilize sound statistical methods and tech15 niques.

16 (2) REPORT.—Not later than December 31,

17 2001, the Secretary shall prepare and submit to the

18 Congress a report containing a summary of the eval19 uation conducted under paragraph (1).

20 (c) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary may

21 provide appropriate technical assistance to States receiv22 ing grants under this Act.

23 (d) FUNDING.—The Secretary may reserve not more

24 than 5 percent of the amount appropriated under this Act

25 for any fiscal year to carry out this section.
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1 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out

3 this Act $150,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 1996

4 through 2000.

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