II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2263 

To authorize the Secretary of Education to establish the National Program 

for Arts and Technology Act as a Federal program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 29, 2012 

Mr. CASEY (for himself and Mr. BROWN of Ohio) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Education to establish the 

National Program for Arts and Technology Act as a 

Federal program. 

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 ‘‘National Program for 

5 Arts and Technology Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDING AND PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDING.—Congress finds that the national pro8 gram for arts and technology established under this Act 

9 will be one of the first national replication programs in 


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1 the United States dedicated to addressing the complex 

2 needs of the poor and undereducated by improving the 

3 sustainability of neighborhoods, communities, and regions. 

4 (b) PURPOSES.—It is the purpose of this Act to es5 tablish the national program for arts and technology to 

6 provide competitive grants for qualified centers and inter7 ested communities to implement or found a qualified cen8 ter that adopts the guidelines set forth by the Secretary, 

9 for the purposes of— 

10 (1) creating an institution within an environ11 ment of poverty where individuals feel and foster a 

12 sense of belonging, and are valued and treated with 

13 dignity; 

14 (2) creating professional jobs for instructors, 

15 trainers, artists, administrators, and others; 

16 (3) collaborating with Federal agencies, private 

17 industry, nonprofit philanthropic organizations, and 

18 planning and economic development organizations to 

19 leverage other investment dollars on behalf of all 

20 stakeholders; 

21 (4) assisting business and industry to achieve 

22 long-term vitality by ensuring the development of a 

23 trained and knowledgeable workforce; 


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1 (5) coordinating with existing social service en2 tities and nonprofit organizations on developing di3 verse and equitable communities; 

4 (6) developing industry specific job training 

5 programs for the under- and unemployed that are 

6 both affordable and accessible; 

7 (7) bridging the gap between education and life8 long learning for poor performing students through 

9 the discipline of craftsmanship in the visual arts; 

10 and 

11 (8) developing complimentary extended day or 

12 year programming in partnership with the local pub13 lic schools to help engage at-risk students by con14 necting classroom instruction with applied and expe15 riential programming in the arts. 

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) CENTER OF ORIGIN.—The term ‘‘Center of 

19 Origin’’ means Manchester Bidwell, nonprofit cor20 poration, the education and community development 

21 model upon which the national program for arts and 

22 technology is based. 

23 (2) INTERESTED COMMUNITIES.—The term 

24 ‘‘interested community’’ means a community that 

25 does the following: 


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1 (A) Demonstrates to the Secretary finan2 cial support from 1 or more of the following: 

3 (i) Sectors of government. 

4 (ii) Education. 

5 (iii) Philanthropy. 

6 (iv) Social services. 

7 (v) Corporations. 

8 (vi) Arts organizations. 

9 (B) Convenes an advisory committee com10 prised of diverse community stakeholders who 

11 are committed to creating a qualified center in 

12 their community. 

13 (C) Has identified potential funding that 

14 will be used to secure the Federal matching re15 quirements described in section 4(c). 

16 (3) NATIONAL PROGRAM FOR ARTS AND TECH17 NOLOGY.—The term ‘‘national program for arts and 

18 technology’’ means a program that is based on the 

19 education and training model of Manchester Bidwell. 

20 (4) QUALIFIED CENTER.—The term ‘‘qualified 

21 center’’ means a private, nonprofit educational entity 

22 that— 

23 (A) operates under the guidelines and 

24 practices established by the national program 


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1 for arts and technology, in consultation with the 

2 Secretary, and— 

3 (i) provides education and training to 

4 underemployed or unemployed individuals 

5 in industry specific job skills; 

6 (ii) is accessible to communities and 

7 neighborhoods that have limited access to 

8 transportation; 

9 (iii) compliments the learning of tar10 geted public middle school or high school 

11 students who are at-risk of dropping out of 

12 school; and 

13 (iv) is housed in a facility that has 

14 been reclaimed and renovated to sustain15 able building standards or newly con16 structed as a highly efficient green space; 

17 and 

18 (B) has a valid affiliation agreement with 

19 the Center of Origin and complies with the fol20 lowing: 

21 (i) Meets quarterly performance goals, 

22 which may include— 

23 (I) students’ school attendance 

24 and behavior; 

25 (II) retention in programming; 


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1 (III) meeting and exceeding re2 cruitment and enrollment metrics; 

3 (IV) student outcomes and per4 formance in training; and 

5 (V) job placement. 

6 (ii) Adheres to essential operating 

7 conditions including environment, targeted 

8 populations, and educational model. 

9 (iii) Participates in professional devel10 opment opportunities for members of the 

11 board, executives, and staff. 

12 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

13 the Secretary of Education. 

14 SEC. 4. GRANT PROGRAM. 

15 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—From the amounts ap16 propriated to carry out this Act, the Secretary shall estab17 lish and implement the national program for arts and 

18 technology to award grants, on a competitive basis, to 

19 qualified centers and interested communities to— 

20 (1) provide financial support to the centers and 

21 communities to establish a new qualified center to 

22 carry out the purposes described in section 2(b); and 

23 (2) provide management expertise to guide the 

24 centers and communities through the 3-phase rep25 lication protocol developed by the Center of Origin 


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1 to ensure standardization across all qualified centers 

2 as to performance goals and objectives, operating 

3 culture, and teaching models. 

4 (b) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.—Federal funds 

5 received under this Act may not be used for capital ex6 penditures or endowment gifts. 

7 (c) MATCHING FUNDS REQUIRED.—To be eligible to 

8 receive a grant under this Act, a qualified center or inter9 ested community shall, for each fiscal year for which the 

10 grant is received, provide non-Federal contributions 

11 (which may include in-kind contributions) toward the 

12 amount of the grant in an amount equal to $1 for each 

13 $1 of Federal funds provided under the grant. 

14 (d) APPLICATION AND ANNUAL REPORT.— 

15 (1) APPLICATION.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive 

17 a grant under this Act, a qualified center or in18 terested community shall submit an application 

19 to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, 

20 and containing such information as the Sec21 retary may require. 

22 (B) CONTENT.—An application submitted 

23 under subparagraph (A) shall, at a minimum, 

24 contain— 


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1 (i) a description of activities to be car2 ried out under the grant; 

3 (ii) information on specific measurable 

4 goals and objectives to be achieved through 

5 activities carried out under the grant; 

6 (iii) evidence of an affiliation with a 

7 local community; and 

8 (iv) evidence of a teaching model con9 sistent with the Secretary’s criteria pre10 scribed pursuant to regulations. 

11 (2) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each qualified center 

13 or interested community receiving a grant 

14 under this Act shall submit to the Secretary an 

15 annual report at such time, in such manner, 

16 and containing such information as the Sec17 retary may require. 

18 (B) CONTENT.—An annual report sub19 mitted under subparagraph (A) shall, at a min20 imum, describe the degree to which progress 

21 has been made toward meeting the specific 

22 measurable goals and objectives described in the 

23 applications submitted under paragraph (1). 


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1 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

2 authorized to be appropriated $25,000,000 to carry out 

3 this Act for the period of fiscal years 2012 through 2016. 

Æ 


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