Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 25 / Thursday, February 6, 1997 / Notices 5693

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA No.: 84.234M]

Projects With Industry; Notice Inviting

Applications for New Awards for Fiscal

Year (FY) 1997

PURPOSE OF PROGRAM: The

Projects With Industry (PWI) program

creates and expands job and career

opportunities for individuals with

disabilities in the competitive labor

market by engaging the talent and

leadership of private industry as

partners in the rehabilitation process.

PWI projects identify competitive job

and career opportunities and the skills

needed to perform those jobs, create

practical settings for job readiness and

training programs, and provide job

placement and career advancement

services.

ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS: Employers

and profitmaking and nonprofit

organizations, including any designated

State units, labor unions, employers,

community rehabilitation program

providers, trade associations, Indian

tribes or tribal organizations, and other

agencies or organizations with the

capacity to create and expand job and

career opportunities for individuals

with disabilities.

Only eligible applicants that propose

to serve a geographic area that is

currently unserved or underserved by

the PWI program can receive new

awards under this program.

DEADLINE FOR TRANSMITTAL OF

APPLICATIONS: April 21, 1997.

DATELINE FOR

INTERGOVERNMENTAL REVIEW: June

20, 1997.

APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE:

February 7, 1997.

AVAILABLE FUNDS: $18,472,708.

ESTIMATED RANGE OF AWARDS:

$158,000–238,000.

ESTIMATED AVERAGE SIZE OF

AWARDS: $198,000.

ESTIMATED NUMBER OF AWARDS:

78–117.

Note: The Department is not bound by any

estimates in this notice.

PROJECT PERIOD: Up to 60 months.

APPLICABLE REGULATIONS: (a) The

Education Department General

Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in

34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80, 81, 82,

85, and 86; (b) The regulations for this

program in 34 CFR part 369; and (c) The

regulations for this program in 34 CFR

part 379, as published elsewhere in this

issue of the Federal Register.

PRIORITIES: Competitive Preference

Priority. The competitive preference

priority concerning Empowerment

Zones and Enterprise Communities in

the notice of final priorities for this

program, published in the Federal

Register on December 9, 1994 (59 FR

63860), applies to this competition.

The Federal Government has

designated 9 Empowerment Zones

(Atlanta, Georgia; Baltimore, Maryland;

Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan;

New York, New York; Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania/Camden, New Jersey;

Kentucky Highlands, Kentucky; MidDelta, Mississippi; and Rio Grande

Valley, Texas). Two Supplemental

Empowerment Zones have been

designated—Los Angeles, California and

Cleveland, Ohio. A total of 95 Enterprise

Communities have been designated. A

full list of Enterprise Communities is

available upon request from the

Department of Housing and Urban

Development (HUD) at 1–800–998–

9999.

The Secretary gives preference to

applications that meet the following

competitive priority. Ten bonus points

will be assigned to applications

determined to be approvable on the

basis of their evaluation under the

applicable program selection criteria.

These bonus points are in addition to

any points the application earns under

the selection criteria for the program.

Competitive Preference Priority—

Providing Program Services in an

Empowerment Zone or Enterprise

Community

Under the Projects With Industry

program, competitive preference will be

given to applications that—(1) Propose

the provision of substantial services in

Empowerment Zones or Enterprise

Communities; and (2) Propose projects

that contribute to the strategic plan of

the Empowerment Zone or Enterprise

Community and that are made an

integral component of the

Empowerment Zone or Enterprise

Community activities.

A PWI project may provide services at

one or more sites. Under this program

a PWI project is considered to be

providing substantial services in a zone

or community if a minimum of 51

percent of the total number of persons

served by the project, irrespective of the

number of sites, reside in a zone or

community and at least 1 of the project

sites is located within the boundaries of

a zone or community. If there is only

one project site, it must be located

within the boundaries of a zone or

community.

Invitational Priorities

Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(1) the

Secretary is particularly interested in

applications that meet one or more of

the following invitational priorities.

However, an application that meets one

or more of these invitational priorities

does not receive competitive or absolute

preference over other applications:

Invitational Priority 1. Projects that

demonstrate the use of alternative work

settings, such as flexiplace or

telecommuting, to assist individuals

with disabilities, especially individuals

with severe disabilities, to secure job

skills training and employment

opportunities in the competitive labor

market.

Invitational Priority 2. Projects that

demonstrate the use of workplace

apprenticeship programs to train

persons with disabilities for

employment in careers with

advancement potential.

Invitational Priority 3. Projects that

demonstrate effective outreach and

collaboration with minority-owned

businesses in order to secure

competitive placement opportunities for

persons with disabilities. Minorityowned businesses are defined as

nonprofit and for-profit entities that are

at least 51 percent owned or controlled

by one or more minority individuals.

Applications should demonstrate a

project’s capacity to address cultural

diversity issues as these issues relate to

the training and placement of

individuals with disabilities in

competitive employment.

Invitational Priority 4. Projects

designed to facilitate the school-to-work

transition of students who are

individuals with disabilities. Projects

should focus on placing youth with

disabilities in employment with clearly

defined career-path or careeradvancement opportunities, or both.

FOR APPLICATIONS OR

INFORMATION CONTACT: Martha

Muskie, U.S. Department of Education,

600 Independence Avenue, SW., Room

3332, Switzer Building, Washington, DC

20202–2649. Telephone: (202) 205–

3293. Individuals who use a

telecommunications device for the deaf

(TDD) may call the Federal Information

Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339

between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern time,

Monday through Friday.

Information about the Department’s

funding opportunities, including copies

of application notices for discretionary

grant competitions, can be viewed on

the Department’s electronic bulletin

board (ED Board), telephone (202) 260–

9950; on the Internet Gopher Server (at

gopher://gcs.ed.gov); or on the World

Wide Web (at http://gcs.ed.gov/).

However, the official application notice

for a discretionary grant competition is

the notice published in the Federal

Register.

Program Authority: 29 U.S.C. 795g.
5694 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 25 / Thursday, February 6, 1997 / Notices

Dated: January 30, 1997.

Judith E. Heumann,

Assistant Secretary for Special Education and

Rehabilitative Services.

[FR Doc. 97–2835 Filed 2–5–97; 8:45 am]

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