I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2784 

To amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to create a new 

national program to support mid-career workers, including workers from 

underrepresented populations, in reentering the STEM workforce, by 

providing funding to small- and medium-sized STEM businesses so the 

businesses can offer paid internships or other returnships that lead 

to positions above entry level. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 22, 2021 

Ms. HOULAHAN (for herself and Mr. BAIRD) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 

to create a new national program to support mid-career 

workers, including workers from underrepresented populations, in reentering the STEM workforce, by providing 

funding to small- and medium-sized STEM businesses 

so the businesses can offer paid internships or other 

returnships that lead to positions above entry level. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘STEM Restoring Em3 ployment Skills through Targeted Assistance, Re-entry, 

4 and Training Act’’ or the ‘‘STEM RESTART Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. RETURNING SKILLED WORKERS TO THE STEM 

6 WORKFORCE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of title I of the Work8 force Innovation and Opportunity Act is amended— 

9 (1) by redesignating section 172 (29 U.S.C. 

10 3227) as section 173; and 

11 (2) by inserting after section 171 the following: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 172. GRANTS TO SUPPORT SKILLED WORKERS IN RE13 TURNING OR TRANSITIONING TO THE STEM 

14 WORKFORCE. 

15 ‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

16 ‘‘(1) The Brookings Institution expects the 

17 coronavirus pandemic will have lasting effects on the 

18 labor market and could change the composition of 

19 available jobs indefinitely, with the ensuing economic 

20 decline ushering in a new era of automation. Em21 ployers will likely shed less skilled workers and re22 place them with higher-skilled technology workers, 

23 which increases labor productivity as a recession 

24 tapers off. 

25 ‘‘(2) The current pipeline of engineering talent 

26 does not include many college graduates from large 


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1 cohorts of the population. Women represent over 57 

2 percent of college graduates but only 22 percent of 

3 the engineers entering the workforce. Within the 

4 workforce, only 14 percent of engineers are women. 

5 Women also leave the engineering profession in 

6 greater numbers than men do. 

7 ‘‘(3) A 2018 Pew Research Center study 

8 showed there are wide racial gaps among current 

9 STEM workers regarding reasons why so few Black 

10 and Hispanic people work in STEM. For example, 

11 over 70 percent of Black STEM workers view lack 

12 of access to education and discriminatory hiring and 

13 promotion practices as reasons there are so few 

14 Black men and women in the STEM fields. By com15 parison, less than 30 percent of White and Asian 

16 STEM workers view that lack of access and those 

17 practices as barriers to Black people entering the 

18 fields. Additionally, 62 percent of Black STEM 

19 workers say they have faced discrimination in their 

20 jobs compared to just 13 percent of White STEM 

21 workers. 

22 ‘‘(4) Among the 25,300,000 United States 

23 women ages 25 through 54 with a bachelor’s degree 

24 or higher degree in 2017, 4,200,000 were out of the 

25 labor force. While some of those women were disVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:27 Jun 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2784.IH H2784

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1 abled or retired, the remaining 3,600,000 women 

2 may be candidates to return to work. 

3 ‘‘(5) The Center for Talent Innovation’s re4 search shows that while 93 percent of women who 

5 left the workforce want to resume their careers, only 

6 74 percent manage to get any kind of job at all and 

7 just 40 percent successfully return to work full-time. 

8 ‘‘(6) Mid-career internship and other returnship 

9 programs are an effective way to address the dif10 ficulties of former STEM employees seeking to re11 turn to work, as the programs provide a proba12 tionary period and also an opportunity to obtain 

13 mentorship, professional development, and support 

14 as the participants transition back to work. Even 

15 more important, returnship programs allow an em16 ployer to base a hiring decision on an actual work 

17 sample instead of a series of interviews. At the same 

18 time, the programs give participants an opportunity 

19 to return to work together, in a cohort of similarly 

20 situated returners. 

21 ‘‘(7) Fortune 500 companies like Apple, Honey22 well, Northrop Grumman, Ingersoll Rand, and The 

23 Procter & Gamble Company have taken the initiative 

24 to try to close the gender gap among STEM profes25 sionals by providing mid-career internships for reVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:27 Jun 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2784.IH H2784

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1 turning technical professionals. However, a 2008 

2 study by Anthony Breitzman and Diana Hicks for 

3 the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Admin4 istration, entitled ‘An Analysis of Small Business 

5 Patents by Industry and Firm Size’, found that 

6 ‘Small firms are much more likely to develop emerg7 ing technologies than are large firms. This is per8 haps intuitively reasonable given theories on small 

9 firms effecting technological change, but the quan10 titative data here support this assertion. Specifically, 

11 although small firms account for only 8 percent of 

12 patents granted, they account for 24 percent of the 

13 patents in the top 100 emerging clusters.’. 

14 ‘‘(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are 

15 to— 

16 ‘‘(1) prioritize expanding opportunities, through 

17 high-quality internships or other returnships in 

18 STEM fields for unemployed or underemployed 

19 workers, particularly workers from underrepresented 

20 populations and workers from rural areas, who are 

21 mid-career skilled workers seeking to return or tran22 sition to in-demand industry sectors or occupations 

23 within the STEM workforce, at positions and com24 pensation above entry level; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) establish grant funding and other incen2 tives for small-sized and medium-sized companies in 

3 in-demand industry sectors or occupations to estab4 lish programs that provide on-the-job evaluation, 

5 education, and training for mid-career skilled work6 ers described in paragraph (1). 

7 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 ‘‘(1) MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISE.—The term 

9 ‘medium-sized’, used with respect to an enterprise, 

10 means an entity that employs more than 499 and 

11 fewer than 10,000 employees. 

12 ‘‘(2) RESTART GRANT.—The term ‘RE13 START grant’ means a grant made under sub14 section (d). 

15 ‘‘(3) RETURNSHIP.—The term ‘returnship’ shall 

16 mean any internship, apprenticeship, re-entry oppor17 tunity, direct hiring opportunity with support, or 

18 other similar opportunity designed to provide work19 ers seeking to return or transition to the STEM 

20 workforce with positions that— 

21 ‘‘(A) are above entry level; 

22 ‘‘(B) provide salaries, stipends, or other 

23 payments, and benefits, that are above entry 

24 level; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) provide training that leads workers 

2 toward full-time careers and provides pathways 

3 toward advancement and leadership. 

4 ‘‘(4) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘rural area’ 

5 means an area that is not an urban area (within the 

6 meaning of the notice of final program criteria enti7 tled ‘Urban Area Criteria for the 2010 Census’ (76 

8 Fed. Reg. 53030 (August 24, 2011))). 

9 ‘‘(5) SMALL-SIZED ENTERPRISE.—The term 

10 ‘small-sized’, used with respect to an enterprise, 

11 means an entity that employs more than 49 and 

12 fewer than 500 individuals. 

13 ‘‘(6) STEM.—The term ‘STEM’ has the mean14 ing given the term in section 2 of the America COM15 PETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 

16 6621 note). 

17 ‘‘(7) UNDERREPRESENTED POPULATION.—The 

18 term ‘underrepresented population’ means a group 

19 that is underrepresented in science and engineering, 

20 as determined by the Secretary of Education under 

21 section 637.4(b) of title 34, Code of Federal Regula22 tions (as in effect on the date of enactment of this 

23 Act). 


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1 ‘‘(8) UNEMPLOYED OR UNDEREMPLOYED INDI2 VIDUAL.—The term ‘unemployed or underemployed 

3 individual’ means— 

4 ‘‘(A) an unemployed or underemployed in5 dividual as defined by the Bureau of Labor Sta6 tistics; and 

7 ‘‘(B) a displaced or furloughed worker. 

8 ‘‘(d) GRANT.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From the amounts made 

10 available to carry out this section, the Secretary 

11 shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible 

12 entities, to carry out returnship programs that pro13 vide opportunities above entry level in STEM fields 

14 for mid-career skilled workers, and achieve the pur15 poses described in subsection (b). 

16 ‘‘(2) PERIODS.—The Secretary shall award the 

17 grants for an initial period of not less than 3 years 

18 and not more than 5 years. 

19 ‘‘(3) AMOUNTS.—In awarding grants under this 

20 subsection, the Secretary shall award a grant— 

21 ‘‘(A) for a small-sized enterprise, in an 

22 amount so that each annual payment for the 

23 grant is not less than $100,000 or more than 

24 $1,000,000; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) for a medium-sized enterprise or con2 sortium, in an amount so that each annual pay3 ment for the grant is not less than $500,000 or 

4 more than $5,000,000. 

5 ‘‘(e) ELIGIBILITY.— 

6 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to re7 ceive a RESTART grant under this section, an enti8 ty shall— 

9 ‘‘(A)(i) be located in the United States and 

10 have significant operations and employees with11 in the United States; 

12 ‘‘(ii) not be a debtor in a bankruptcy pro13 ceeding, within the meaning of section 

14 4003(c)(3)(D)(i)(V) of the CARES Act (15 

15 U.S.C. 9042(c)(3)(D)(i)(V)) or under a State 

16 bankruptcy law; and 

17 ‘‘(iii) be within an in-demand industry sec18 tor or occupation in a STEM field; and 

19 ‘‘(B) be— 

20 ‘‘(i) a small-sized enterprise; 

21 ‘‘(ii) a medium-sized enterprise; or 

22 ‘‘(iii) a consortium of small-sized or 

23 medium-sized enterprises. 

24 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE PROVIDERS.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that 

2 desires to partner with a provider in order to 

3 carry out a returnship program under this sec4 tion shall enter into an arrangement with an el5 igible provider. 

6 ‘‘(B) PROVIDER.—To be eligible to enter 

7 into such an arrangement, a provider— 

8 ‘‘(i) may or may not directly employ 

9 skilled workers in STEM fields but— 

10 ‘‘(I) shall have expertise in 

11 human resources-related activities, 

12 such as identifying or carrying out 

13 staffing with skilled workers or under14 represented populations; and 

15 ‘‘(II) shall be capable of pro16 viding high-quality education and 

17 training services; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) may be— 

19 ‘‘(I)(aa) an institution of higher 

20 education (as defined in section 101 

21 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

22 (20 U.S.C. 1001)); or 

23 ‘‘(bb) a non-degree-granting in24 stitution that is governed by the same 

25 body that governs an institutions of 


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1 higher education described in item 

2 (aa); 

3 ‘‘(II) a public, private for-profit, 

4 or private nonprofit service provider, 

5 approved by the local board; 

6 ‘‘(III) a joint labor-management 

7 organization; 

8 ‘‘(IV) an eligible provider of 

9 adult education and literacy activities 

10 under title II; or 

11 ‘‘(V) an established nonprofit or12 ganization that conducts research or 

13 provides training on technical, social 

14 and emotional, and employability 

15 skills and knowledge aligned to the 

16 needs of adult learners and workers. 

17 ‘‘(f) APPLICATIONS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 

19 RESTART grant to carry out a returnship program, 

20 an entity shall submit an application to the Sec21 retary at such time and in such manner as the Sec22 retary may reasonably require. 

23 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Such an application shall in24 clude— 


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1 ‘‘(A) a description of the demand for 

2 skilled workers in STEM fields and how the 

3 RESTART grant will be used to help meet that 

4 demand; 

5 ‘‘(B) a description of how the program will 

6 lead to employment of unemployed or under7 employed individuals, particularly workers from 

8 underrepresented populations or from rural 

9 areas, who seek to return or transition to the 

10 STEM workforce; 

11 ‘‘(C) if the entity has entered into or plans 

12 to enter into an arrangement with an eligible 

13 provider as described in subsection (e)(2) to 

14 carry out a returnship program, information 

15 identifying the eligible provider, and a descrip16 tion of how the arrangement will help the entity 

17 build the knowledge and skills of skilled workers 

18 participating in the program; 

19 ‘‘(D) a description of how the eligible enti20 ty will develop and establish, or expand, a 

21 returnship program that adds to the number of 

22 full-time employees employed by the entity, but 

23 does not displace full-time employees currently 

24 (as of the date of submission of the application) 

25 employed by the entity; 


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1 ‘‘(E) an assurance that any new or exist2 ing returnship program developed and estab3 lished, or expanded, with the grant funds will 

4 last for at least 10 weeks and provide com5 pensation to participants in the form of a sal6 ary, stipend, or other payment, and benefits, 

7 that are offered to full-time employees with 

8 equivalent experience and expertise, such as 

9 health care or child care benefits; and 

10 ‘‘(F) if the returnship program leads to a 

11 recognized postsecondary credential, informa12 tion on the quality of the program that leads to 

13 the credential. 

14 ‘‘(3) PRIORITY.—In making grants under this 

15 section, the Secretary shall give priority to entities 

16 who are proposing programs that prioritize 

17 returnships for workers from underrepresented pop18 ulations or from rural areas. 

19 ‘‘(g) USE OF FUNDS.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An entity that receives a 

21 grant under this section shall use the grant funds to 

22 carry out a returnship program, of not less than 10 

23 weeks, through which the entity provides for— 

24 ‘‘(A) the education and training of 

25 returnship participants; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) the services of existing employees (as 

2 of the date the program begins) of the entity 

3 who are working with returnship participants in 

4 an educational, training, or managerial role, to 

5 maximize the retention rate and effectiveness of 

6 the returnship program. 

7 ‘‘(2) SPECIFIC USES.—The grant funds may be 

8 used— 

9 ‘‘(A) to pay for the evaluation, and entry 

10 into the program, and education and training of 

11 returnship participants, including payment for 

12 the duration of the program for the participants 

13 for— 

14 ‘‘(i) equipment, travel, and (as nec15 essary) housing; 

16 ‘‘(ii) mentorship and career coun17 seling; and 

18 ‘‘(iii) salaries, stipends, or payments, 

19 and benefits, described in subsection 

20 (f)(2)(E); 

21 ‘‘(B) to supplement, and not supplant, the 

22 compensation of those existing employees of the 

23 entity who are directly supporting a returnship 

24 program through the work described in para25 graph (1)(B); and 


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1 ‘‘(C) to enter into an arrangement with an 

2 eligible provider to carry out a returnship pro3 gram. 

4 ‘‘(3) EXISTING EMPLOYEES.—Not more than 

5 20 percent of the grant funds may be used to pro6 vide compensation for the existing employees per7 forming the work described in paragraph (1)(B). 

8 ‘‘(4) COORDINATION WITH STATE WORKFORCE

9 BOARDS.—An entity that receives a grant under this 

10 section shall coordinate activities with the State 

11 workforce development board established under sec12 tion 101, to ensure collaboration and alignment of 

13 workforce programs. 

14 ‘‘(h) REPORTING AND EVALUATION REQUIRE15 MENTS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) REPORT TO THE SECRETARY.—An entity 

17 that receives a grant under this section for a 

18 returnship program shall prepare, certify the con19 tents of, and submit to the Secretary an annual re20 port containing data regarding— 

21 ‘‘(A) the total number of the participants, 

22 and the number of such participants disaggre23 gated by sex, race, and ethnicity; 

24 ‘‘(B) the total number of the participants 

25 transitioned into full-time employment, and the 


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1 number of such transitioned participants disag2 gregated by sex, race, and ethnicity; and 

3 ‘‘(C) if the returnship program includes 

4 participants in an internship, the conversion 

5 rate of the internship participants to employees, 

6 for the total number of those participants and 

7 the conversion rate of those participants disag8 gregated by sex, race, and ethnicity. 

9 ‘‘(2) EVALUATION AND REPORT BY THE SEC10 RETARY.—Not later than 180 days after receiving 

11 the annual reports from grant recipients under para12 graph (1), the Secretary shall— 

13 ‘‘(A)(i) prepare a report that presents the 

14 data collected through the reports, including 

15 data disaggregated by sex, race, and ethnicity, 

16 and an evaluation based on that data of the 

17 best practices for effectively implementing 

18 returnship (including internship) programs; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) submit the report to the Committee 

20 on Education and Labor of the House of Rep21 resentatives, and the Committee on Health, 

22 Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; 

23 and 

24 ‘‘(B) post information on a website on best 

25 practices described in subparagraph (A)(i). 


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1 ‘‘(i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

2 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

3 out this section $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 

4 through 2026.’’. 

5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents in 

6 section 1(b) of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity 

7 Act is amended— 

8 (1) by redesignating the item relating to section 

9 172 as the item relating to section 173; and 

10 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec11 tion 171 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 172. Grants to support skilled workers in returning or transitioning to 

the STEM workforce.’’. 

Æ 


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