US Department of Labor announces availability of grants to provide training and supportive services for young parents

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the availability of approximately $5.5 million under the Young Parents Demonstration Program. In the third round of this program, the department will competitively award four to six grantees between $500,000 and $1.5 million each. Grantees are encouraged to serve young parents who are victims of child abuse, are homeless or have run away from home, are Native American/Indian, are migrants, have incarcerated parents, are involved with or at risk of involvement with court systems, have disabilities, and are in or aging out of foster care.

"Our nation's young people are one of our greatest resources," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "Through these grants, young parents can gain the educational and occupational skills that are necessary for a successful, economically self-sufficient future for themselves and their families."

This program provides educational and occupational skills training services that lead to family economic self-sufficiency for young mothers and fathers as well as expectant parents ages 16-24. Eligible applicants must currently be operating a program for young parents that includes educational and occupational skills training, case management, supportive services, and follow-up and post-program transition services. Applicants also must provide mentoring services or partner with an organization that provides these services and must partner with a workforce investment board.

Selected applicants for this demonstration project will be expected to enroll at least 400 new participants to their existing programs within a two-year period. They also will participate in a random assignment evaluation designed to test the impact of intensive mentoring services. The evaluation will include a methodology that evenly splits the participants enrolled into two groups, half of whom, in addition to core services, will receive intensive mentoring services. The remaining half of the enrolled participants will receive only core services. All 400 participants will be randomly determined to either receive the additional mentoring services or not.

A notice of the solicitation for grant applications will be published in the March 30 edition of the Federal Register. Prospective applicants can visit http://www.grants.gov or http://www.doleta.gov/grants/find_grants.cfm to view the full solicitation online. They also are encouraged to view the online tutorial "Grant Applications 101: A Plain English Guide to ETA Competitive Grants" available at http://www.workforce3one.org/page/grants_toolkit.