
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 42USC12656]

 
                 TITLE 42--THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
 
               CHAPTER 129--NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE
 
    SUBCHAPTER I--NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE STATE GRANT PROGRAM
 
                        Division J--Miscellaneous
 
Sec. 12656. Urban Youth Corps


(a) Findings

    The Congress finds the following:
        (1) The rehabilitation, reclamation, and beautification of urban 
    public housing, recreational sites, youth and senior centers, and 
    public roads and public works facilities through the efforts of 
    young people in the United States in an Urban Youth Corps can 
    benefit these youths, while also benefiting their communities, by--
            (A) providing them with education and work opportunities;
            (B) furthering their understanding and appreciation of the 
        challenges faced by individuals residing in urban communities; 
        and
            (C) providing them with a means to pay for higher education 
        or to repay indebtedness they have incurred to obtain higher 
        education.

        (2) A significant number of housing units for low-income 
    individuals in urban areas has become substandard and unsafe and the 
    deterioration of urban roadways, mass transit systems, and 
    transportation facilities in the United States have contributed to 
    the blight encountered in many cities in the United States.
        (3) As a result, urban housing, public works, and transportation 
    resources are in need of labor intensive rehabilitation, 
    reclamation, and beautification work that has been neglected in the 
    past and cannot be adequately carried out by Federal, State, and 
    local government at existing personnel levels.
        (4) Urban youth corps have established a good record of 
    rehabilitating, reclaiming, and beautifying these kinds of resources 
    in a cost-efficient manner, especially when they have worked in 
    partnership with government housing, public works, and 
    transportation authorities and agencies.

(b) Purpose

    It is the purpose of this section--
        (1) to perform, in a cost-effective manner, appropriate service 
    projects to rehabilitate, reclaim, beautify, and improve public 
    housing and public works and transportation facilities and resources 
    in urban areas suffering from high rates of poverty where work will 
    not be performed by existing employees;
        (2) to assist government housing, public works, and 
    transportation authorities and agencies;
        (3) to expose young people in the United States to public 
    service while furthering their understanding and appreciation of 
    their community;
        (4) to expand educational opportunity for individuals who 
    participate in the Urban Youth Corps established by this section by 
    providing them with an increased ability to pursue postsecondary 
    education or job training; and
        (5) to stimulate interest among young people in the United 
    States in lifelong service to their communities and the United 
    States.

(c) Definitions

    For purposes of this section:

                   (1) Appropriate service project

        The term ``appropriate service project'' means any project for 
    the rehabilitation, reclamation, or beautification of urban public 
    housing and public works and transportation resources or facilities.

                   (2) Corps and Urban Youth Corps

        The term ``Corps'' and ``Urban Youth Corps'' mean the Urban 
    Youth Corps established under subsection (d)(1) of this section.

                   (3) Qualified urban youth corps

        The term ``qualified urban youth corps'' means any program 
    established by a State or local government or by a nonprofit 
    organization that--
            (A) is capable of offering meaningful, full-time, productive 
        work for individuals between the ages of 16 and 25, inclusive, 
        in an urban or public works or transportation setting;
            (B) gives participants a mix of work experience, basic and 
        life skills, education, training, and support services; and
            (C) provides participants with the opportunity to develop 
        citizenship values and skills through service to their 
        communities and the United States.

                            (4) Secretary

        The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
    Development or the Secretary of Transportation.

                              (5) State

        The term ``State'' means any State of the United States, the 
    District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the 
    Virgin Islands of the United States, American Samoa, and the 
    Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

(d) Establishment of Urban Youth Corps

                          (1) Establishment

        There is hereby established in the Department of Housing and 
    Urban Development and the Department of Transportation an Urban 
    Youth Corps. The Corps shall consist of individuals between the ages 
    of 16 and 25, inclusive, who are enrolled as participants in the 
    Corps by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the 
    Secretary of Transportation. To be eligible for enrollment in the 
    Corps, an individual shall satisfy the criteria specified in section 
    139(b) of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 [42 U.S.C. 
    12593(b)]. The Secretaries may enroll such individuals in the Corps 
    without regard to the civil service and classification laws, rules, 
    or regulations of the United States. The Secretaries may establish a 
    preference for the enrollment in the Corps of individuals who are 
    economically, physically, or educationally disadvantaged.

               (2) Use of qualified urban youth corps

        The Secretaries are authorized to enter into contracts and 
    cooperative agreements with any qualified urban youth corps to 
    perform appropriate service projects described in paragraph (3). As 
    part of the Urban Youth Corps established in the Department of 
    Transportation, the Secretary of Transportation may make grants to 
    States (and through States to local governments) for the purpose of 
    establishing, operating, or supporting qualified urban youth corps 
    that will perform appropriate service projects relating to 
    transportation resources or facilities.

                        (3) Service projects

        The Secretaries may each utilize the Corps or any qualified 
    urban youth corps to carry out appropriate service projects that the 
    Secretary involved is authorized to carry out under other authority 
    of law involving public housing projects or public works resources 
    or facilities.

                 (4) Preference for certain projects

        In selecting an appropriate service project to be carried out 
    under this section, the Secretaries shall give a preference to those 
    projects which--
            (A) will provide long-term benefits to the public;
            (B) will instill in the participant a work ethic and a sense 
        of public service;
            (C) will be labor intensive;
            (D) can be planned and initiated promptly; and
            (E) will provide academic, experiential, or community 
        education opportunities.

                           (5) Consistency

        Each appropriate service project carried out under this section 
    in any public housing project or public works resource or facility 
    shall be consistent with the provisions of law and policies relating 
    to the management and administration of such projects, facilities, 
    or resources, with all other applicable provisions of law, and with 
    all management, operational, and other plans and documents which 
    govern the administration of such projects, facilities, or 
    resources.

(e) Living allowances

    The Secretaries shall provide each participant in the Urban Youth 
Corps with a living allowance in an amount not to exceed the maximum 
living allowance authorized by section 140(a)(3) of the National and 
Community Service Act of 1990 [42 U.S.C. 12594(a)(3)] for participants 
in a national service program assisted under subtitle C of title I of 
such Act [42 U.S.C. 12571 et seq.].

(f) Terms of service

    Each participant in the Urban Youth Corps shall agree to participate 
in the Corps for a term of service established by the Secretary 
involved, consistent with the terms of service required under section 
139(b) of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 [42 U.S.C. 
12593(b)] for participants in a national service program assisted under 
subtitle C of title I of such Act [42 U.S.C. 12571 et seq.].

(g) Educational awards

                           (1) Eligibility

        Each participant in the Urban Youth Corps shall be eligible for 
    a national service educational award in the manner prescribed in 
    subtitle D of title I of the National and Community Service Act of 
    1990 [42 U.S.C. 12601 et seq.] if such participant complies with 
    such requirements as may be established under this subtitle by the 
    Secretary involved respecting eligibility for the award. The period 
    during which the award may be used, the purposes for which the award 
    may be used, and the amount of the award shall be determined as 
    provided under such subtitle.

         (2) Forbearance in the collection of Stafford loans

        For purposes of section 1078 of title 20, in the case of 
    borrowers who are participants in the Urban Youth Corps, upon 
    written request, a lender shall grant a borrower forbearance on such 
    terms as are otherwise consistent with the regulations of the 
    Secretary of Education, during periods in which the borrower is 
    serving as such a participant and eligible for a national service 
    educational award under paragraph (1).

(h) Nondisplacement

    The nondisplacement requirements of section 177 of the National and 
Community Service Act of 1990 [42 U.S.C. 12637] shall be applicable to 
all activities carried out by the Urban Youth Corps and to all 
activities carried out under this section by a qualified urban youth 
corps.

(i) Cost sharing

             (1) Projects by qualified urban youth corps

        The Secretaries are each authorized to pay not more than 75 
    percent of the costs of any appropriate service project carried out 
    pursuant to this section by a qualified urban youth corps. The 
    remaining 25 percent of the costs of such a project may be provided 
    from nonfederal sources in the form of funds, services, facilities, 
    materials, equipment, or any combination of the foregoing.

                            (2) Donations

        The Secretaries are each authorized to accept donations of 
    funds, services, facilities, materials, or equipment for the 
    purposes of operating the Urban Youth Corps and carrying out 
    appropriate service projects by the Corps. However, nothing in this 
    section shall be construed to require any cost sharing for any 
    project carried out directly by the Corps.

    (3) Funds available under National and Community Service Act

        In order to carry out the Urban Youth Corps or to support 
    qualified urban youth corps under this section, the Secretaries 
    shall be eligible to apply for and receive assistance under section 
    121(b) of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 [42 U.S.C. 
    12571(b)].

(Pub. L. 103-82, title I, Sec. 106, Sept. 21, 1993, 107 Stat. 854.)

                       References in Text

    The civil service laws, referred to in subsec. (d)(1), are set forth 
in Title 5, Government Organization and Employees. See, particularly, 
section 3301 et seq. of Title 5.
    The classification laws, referred to in subsec. (d)(1), are 
classified to chapter 51 (Sec. 5101 et seq.) and subchapter III 
(Sec. 5331 et seq.) of chapter 53 of Title 5.
    The National and Community Service Act of 1990, referred to in 
subsecs. (e), (f), and (g)(1), is Pub. L. 101-610, Nov. 16, 1990, 104 
Stat. 3127, as amended. Subtitles C and D of title I of the Act are 
classified generally to divisions C (Sec. 12571 et seq.) and D 
(Sec. 12601 et seq.), respectively, of this subchapter. For complete 
classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out 
under section 12501 of this title and Tables.

                          Codification

    Section was enacted as part of the National and Community Service 
Trust Act of 1993, and not as part of the National and Community Service 
Act of 1990 which comprises this chapter.


                             Effective Date

    Section effective Oct. 1, 1993, see section 123 of Pub. L. 103-82, 
set out as an Effective Date of 1993 Amendment note under section 1701 
of Title 16, Conservation.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in section 12572 of this title.
